Asch, Zimbardo and Milgram Flashcards
Asch’s aim
To examine the extent to which social pressure from a majority affects individual conformity.
Asch’s sample
123 white American men pts in groups of 7-9 on a round table
Asch’s procedure
A “real” ppt was seated in a row among confederates.
The ppt was seated 6th in a row of 7 people.
The goal of the study was to examine perceptual judgments & the participants were instructed to pick which of 3 lines “matched” a standard line.
The true ppt could see that one of the lines was obviously a match, the others obviously wrong.
In 12 out of the 18 studies (the critical studies) the confederates were told to give the WRONG answer.
In 6 trials they gave the wrong answer of a longer line.
In 6- a wrong short line was identified.
The real ppt was seated second to last so listened to the same wrong answer over and over before giving theirs.
Asch’s overall conformity rate
37%
How many conformed on every critical trial, Asch
5%
How many remained completely independent
Asch
25%
How many conformed at least once
Asch
75%
What were Asch’s 3 variations
- Difficulty of tasks
- Size of majority
A group size of 3 led to conformity, but adding further confederates made little difference to whether or not the participants conformed. - Unanimity
Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with the others. The presence of a dissenting confederate led to reduced conformity This suggests that the influence of the majority depends to some extent on the group being unanimous.
What was error rate when pts tested alone
Asch
less than 1%
1 participant : 1 confederate =
1 participant : 2 confederate =
1 participant : 3 confederate =
3%
13%
32%
How did Asch change size of majority
from 1-15 to see if the number of people made more of a difference.
In a very small group, conformity rose to 32%, most people are sensitive to the views of others so needed little influence.
In a large scale group, very little difference in conformity.
How did Asch change the unamity of the group and what were the results
Introduced a confederate who acted as a dissenter within the group. The real pp conformed less when the dissenter was there
Variation one: confederate asked to give correct answer, conformity dropped to 5%
Variation two: confederate asked to give a different incorrect answer, conformity dropped to 9%
Zimbardo aim
people would conform to the roles of guards and prisoners in a role-playing simulation of a prison environment.
To test whether prison violence was down to the sadistic nature of the personalities within the prison or if the
Zimbardo procedure
21 male university students responded to a newspaper advert that offered $15 a day to take part in an experiment. 21 students were picked (the most mentally and physically stable – 10 guards and 11 prisoners). They were randomly allocated to the roles. Zimbardo played the role of the prison superintendent.
Prisoners were dehumanised , deloused, fingerprinted and stripped. Prisoners were given uniforms that were bleak, whilst guards were given a superior uniform with sunglasses , truncheons and handcuffs, etc.
9 prisoners were placed 3 to a cell and the study was planned to run for 2 weeks, but was eventually cut short.
How early did 1st prisoner leave
36 hours
When ws study stopped
6 days
