asch's study DONT DO

Question 1

aim for study

Answer 1

investigate the extent to which social pressure from majority group could affect a person to conform
-and if people would knowingly give the wrong answer

Question 2

procedure

Answer 2

• shown 4 lines, on standard and 3 comparison
• 6-8 confederates with 1 NAIVE PARTICIPANT
• in first few trials, ALL confederates gave right answers but then started making errors
• all confederates gave same wrong answer
• each participant took part in 18 trials
• on 12 critical trials, confederates gave wearing answer

Question 3

how many participants

Answer 3

123 american male undergraduates

Question 4

findings

Answer 4

75% conformed at least once
25% didn’t conform on any trials

-naive participant gave wrong answer 36.8% of the time

Question 5

what did participants say after they were interviewed

Answer 5

they said they conformed to avoid social rejection and be socially accepted (NSI!!)

Question 6

strengths

Answer 6

• lab experiment, highly controlled

- results can be relocated, so reliable

Question 7

weaknesses

Answer 7

• lacks ecological validity, artificial environment
• behaviour displayed may not be seen in real life as a line test can not determine this
• cultural differences, only americans (individualistic culture), if they used people from a collectivist culture, results may have changed (as conformity would probably increase)