Studies P1 Flashcards
Breakdown Asch’s study into group conformity
Aim: To see if people will knowingly give a wrong answer when in the presence of a group who say otherwise.
Method: A group of people who were all confederates were in a room pretending to be participants. The real participant would also be in the room as well. Everyone would be asked whether the length of the lines on the board are different or the same. The participant would be asked last after everyone else had given their answers.
Results: The participant would always give the incorrect answer despite them knowing it was wrong as they were succumbing and conforming to the group through social influence. Whether this was informational as they didn’t want to be wrong or because they feared disapproval was asked of the participant.
Conclusion: People will knowingly give wrong answers to avoid standing out from a group and fearing the consequences of that.
Give some limitations of Asch’s research into group conformity
- The personality of the PP was not accounted for. Someone with a stronger willpower is less likely to conform and will stick to their decision.
- Task difficulty may’ve affected how the confederates were trusted as a harder task could’ve decreased trust from the participant to copy their answers.
- Group size can affect conformity. More people doing something can reinforce the idea that the answer is correct or the action morally acceptable.
Breakdown Zimbardo’s study into conformity to social roles
Aim: To see if people conform to social roles when in a realistic setting and context.
Method: People volunteered to play either guard or prisoner in Zimbardo’s fake prison under the university. They were assigned roles based on personality tests and they would play these roles as they lived in the prison. All participants wore uniforms to realise the context. Their behaviours and attitudes were recorded through cameras and noted by researchers as time went on.
Results: Everyone quickly expressed the behaviours associated with their role, guards became hostile and domineering whilst prisoners became either submissive or later resistant and rebellious. Everyone was so convinced of their place in their fake prison they thought they couldn’t leave and Zimbardo himself believed he was the superintendent and didn’t call off the experiment despite conflict and abuse of prisoners.
Conclusion: People will conform to their social roles given the situational forces surrounding them are strong enough.
Give some limitations of Zimbardo’s research into conforming to social roles
- Placing people in potential direct conflict would be considered unethical and couldn’t be funded or approved as a study in a modern context.
- This particular situation could’ve been particularly powerful because of authority figures present as opposed to a less severe context.
- The incentive of money may’ve originally caused people to persist with their involvement in the research despite actually wanting to leave.
- As prisoners they were under the false impression they were actually incarcerated which may’ve decreased their availability of having the right to withdraw from the study.
Name some practical applications of Zimbardo’s research
- Use of uniforms in workplaces should be managed to ensure that this doesn’t increase the likelihood of people being abused or exploited (police, military etc)
- Avoid giving people too much responsibility or influence as this could cause them to abuse this position and potentially hurt people because they are simply able to.
- The power of the situation should be considered in justice cases as this may easily sway how people behave and the severity of punishments could consequently be reduced or considered.
Outline Milgram’s Study.
Aim: To study obedience levels in people given orders by an authority figure.
Method: Men were paid 4$ for entering into a supposed memory experiment at a university. In reality they were taking part in an obedience study. A learner (confederate) would sit in another room and the teacher (participant) would ask them memory questions. If they answered incorrectly then the teacher must was asked by the researcher to administer increasingly high volts of electricity to the learner who would yell with pain in response. The shocks ranged from 15 to 450 volts and how far the participants applied the shocks was recorded by researchers.
Results: 65% of participants went to 450V and were considered obedient however some did take prompting by the researcher who would say “the experiment requires that you continue” and other similar prods. Some PP’s defied and stopped but many suffered physical and psychological stress with one person having a seizure due to the distress he was under.
Conclusion: The majority of people will be obedient and perform unreasonable tasks if asked by an authority figure.
Give strengths of Milgram’s research.
- Deceiving the participants to the study’s true nature is unethical however yields more realistic behaviour and results from the participants.
- Study has high ecological validity due to the numerous cases of people commiting despicable acts from prompting by an authority figure.
Give weaknesses of Milgram’s research.
- The participants had reduced right to withdraw as they were prompted to continue by researchers and eluded with the idea they were allowed to leave.
- They were deceived to the true nature of the study which is unethical.
- No adequate briefing was provided by participants that would inform them of the content of the study.
