ASCH

Question 1

Definition of Social Influence

Answer 1

Behaviour of others can cause a person to change their behaviour. Conformity is when the behaviour of an individual or small group is influenced by a larger or dominant group

Question 2

ASCH - Procedure

Answer 2

123 US males undergrad students. Seates around a table and asked to look at 3 lines of different lengths. In groups of 8 participants asked to judge length by matching it to a standard line. Each group had one real participant, rest are confeds. Real went last or second to last to hear others. Unambiguous answers. 12/18 critical trials confers asked to give same wrong answer. Control group, judge line alone

Question 3

ASCH - findings and Conc

Answer 3

In critical trials, participants conformed 37% of the time and 75% conformed at least once. Said they didnt believe their wrong answer but conformed as they didnt want to go against group - compliance.
Conc - showed normative conformity

Question 4

ASCH - Variation group size

Answer 4

Conducted experiment again with less confeds and found that conformity from real participants had decreased to 14% with 2 confeds, an 32% with 3 confeds. More made little difference.

Question 5

ASCH - Variation unanimity

Answer 5

Asch introduced a confederate who said the same answer as the real participant. having someone who disagreed with the confed broke unanimity, making it easier for participants to resist pressure. conformity decreased from 37% to 5.5%

Question 6

ASCH - Variation Task difficulty

Answer 6

Asch made task difficulty more difficult by making lines more similar. Makes participants doubt what they see and increases conformity.

Question 7

ASCH - Variation Confidence and experience

Answer 7

WHwen debriefing, more confident led to less conformity than less confident. WIESENTHAL et al 1976 - more competent less conformity.

Question 8

Asch - Variation Gender

Answer 8

Females are percieved as more conforming EAGLEY AND CARLI 1981 - meta analysis and found inconsistencies between gender and conformity.

Question 9

ASCH 5 Variations

Answer 9

1. Group size
2. unanimity
3. difficulty
4. confidence and expertise
5. gender

Question 10

ASCH STRENGTHS

Answer 10

One methodology strength of ASCH line study was the high reliability.
This is because due to strict controls over the procedure it was easier to replicate the study and conduct his variations.
This means that ASCH laid down an important foundation on conformity levels for future researchers to expand on like Dr. Pratkanis in 2008.
The imp is that the study exerting such standardised procedures has led to an expansion/build on in knowledge.

Question 11

ASCH WEAKNESS

Answer 11

One methodological limitation of ASCH line study is it is BETA BIAS.
This is because ASCH study was androcentric using a total of 123 US males and no females in his study. ASCH assumed that the findings would be similar for both males and females and attempted to generalise his findings to both genders.
This means that it provides a potentially misleading or inaccurate represenation of how females would respond in social conformity.
The imp is that ASCH findings cannot be generalised to wider population.
However EAGLEY AND CARLI 1981 - meta analysis and found inconsistencies between gender and conformity.

Artificial setting with an artificial task. unlikley to display natural behaviour study has low ecological valididty