Variables Affecting Conformity- Evaluation

Question 1

Validity in Asch’s research.

Answer 1

Strength: High degree of control, in task difficulty variation everything bar the line length remained the same. Allowed him to see how different variations affected conformity. However, increasing internal validity decreases external validity meaning less similar to every day situations.

Question 2

Ethics in Asch’s research.

Answer 2

Participants were deceived for the experiment to work. If participants weren’t deceived the experiment wouldn’t work. Participants may have gave different answers if they knew the truth behind the investigation.

Question 3

Reliability in Asch’s research.

Answer 3

Future research found different results to Asch’s research. Perrin and Spencer (1980) recreated Asch’s study and found that only one student conformed in 396 trials. However this could be explained by societal changes.

Question 4

Generalisability in Asch’s research.

Answer 4

Not representative of all genders. Participants were 123 males with no female participants. Can’t be applied to the conformity rates of females. Example of beta bias, little difference between male and female behaviour.