variables affecting conformity - asch Flashcards
what was the aim of Asch’s study?
to investigate the effects of conformity to a majority, when the task was unambiguous
outline Asch’s research
- 123 male american undergraduates
- groups of 6; 1 true ppt, 5 confeds
- ppt’s and confeds presented with 4 lines; 1 standard line, 3 comparison lines
- they were asked to state which of the 3 lines was the same length as the standard line
- the real ppt always answered last or second to last
- confeds would give the same incorrect answer for 12/18
trials - Asch observed how often the participant would give the same
incorrect answer as the confederates versus the correct answer
outline Asch’s findings
- 36.8% conformed
- 25% never conformed
- 75% conformed at least once
- in a control trial, only 1% of responses given by ppt were
incorrect (which eliminates eyesight/perception as an extraneous
variable)
what was the conclusion of Asch’s research?
group pressures to conform to a majority are much stronger than had been thought previously
what are the 3 factors affecting level of conformity/ variations of Asch’s research
- group size
- task difficulty
- unanimity
outline the findings of group size as a variation of Asch’s research
- 1 confed, conformity was 3%
- 2 confeds, conformity was 12.8%
- 3 confeds, conformity was 32%
- with a majority of 3 confeds, conformity started to rise
- however, adding more confeds to the group made little difference
outline the findings of task difficulty as a variation of Asch’s research
- Asch altered the (comparison) lines, making them more similar in length. since it was harder to judge the
correct answer conformity increased. - if the task is made more ambiguous, conformity increases (informational social influence)
outline the findings of unanimity as a variation of Asch’s research
- when a confederate gave the correct answer, conformity dropped to 5%
- if they gave a different, incorrect answer to the majority, conformity dropped to 9%
evaluation: high internal validity + ELAB
ID: high internal validity
Q: there was strict control over extraneous variables,
such as timing of assessment and the type of task used
EX: for example, the participants
did the experiment before without confederates to see if they actually
knew the correct answer, thus removing the confounding variable of a lack of knowledge
AN: this suggests that valid and reliable ‘cause and effect’
relationships can be established, as well as valid conclusions.
ELAB: despite strict control, Asch’s study can be criticised for lacking ecological validity
EX: for example, it was based on people’s perception of lines
and so the findings cannot be generalised to real life as it does not reflect the complexity of real-life conformity i.e. where there are many other confounding variables
evaluation: ethnocentric
ID: Furthermore, Asch’s research may be seen as ethnocentric
Q: this means that the social context of the 1950s may have affected
results
EX: for example, Perrin and Spencer criticised the study by stating that the period that the experiment was conducted in influenced the results because it was an anti-Communist period in America. furthermore, they replicated the research with British students in 1980, and only 1 in 396 conformed.
AN: although this was in the 1980’s, arguably, conformity has lessened over time. therefore, the study can
be said to lack temporal validity because the findings cannot be
generalised across all time-periods.
evaluation: ethical issues
ID: ethical issues
Q: there was deception as participants were tricked into thinking the study was about perception rather than compliance so they could not give informed consent.
EX: for example, some ppt’s felt stressed and underwent psychological harm, such as being embarrassed after realising the true aims of the study. although Asch agued that he interviewed them after to overcome this
AN: therefore, such issues simply mean that a cost-benefit analysis is required to evaluate whether the ethical costs are smaller than the benefits of increased knowledge of the field
