Solomon Asch conformity line

Question 1

Asch Experiment

Aims

Answer 1

Each of the groups had one real participant and the rest were confederates giving incorrect answers.
Aimed too see if participants would change their behaviour due to group pressure.

Question 2

Asch Experiment

Procedure

Answer 2

50 students from swarthmore college.
Confedirates said their answer first and real participants said it last.
In the first rounds the confedirates gave the correct answers but as the rounds went on they would give incorrect answers, until they were all unanimously inccorect.
12/18 trial the confedirates were wrong

Lab experiment

Question 3

Asch Experiment

Findings

Answer 3

On average the participants conformed on 32% of the critical trials and 74% of the participants confromed at least once.
only 26% never conformed.
When he asked the participants why they said they wanted to fit in or feard they would be ridiculed by the group.

Question 4

Evaluation

Positives

Answer 4

Offers an alternative to sherifs study (1935)
shows the two most common reasons for conformity (normative and informational)

Question 5

Evaluation

Negatives

Answer 5

He used a bias sample of 50 male students so we cannot generalise these findings too the rest of the population.
It has low ecological validity as it was an artificial task- does not reflect conformity in everyday life.
Broke ethical guidelines as he did not protect them from harm and he used deception.

Question 6

Evaluation

Other studies

Answer 6

Application- Perrin and Spencer (1980) 350 trials on engeneering students and found only 1 conformed.
Generalisabiltiy- Bond and Smith (1996) argue if you use women the confromity would increase as they have a more caring nature