social influence Flashcards
(3 cards)
describe Asch’s study of conformity. (6 marks)
Asch (1951) aimed to investigate whether people would conform to the majority even when the correct answer was obvious. He recruited 123 male American university students who believed they were taking part in a visual perception task. Each participant was placed in a group with 6–8 confederates who were instructed to give incorrect answers on 12 out of 18 critical trials in a line judgment task. The real participant always answered last or second-to-last to see if they would conform.
Asch found that 75% of participants conformed at least once, and the average conformity rate was 32% on critical trials. However, 25% never conformed. When interviewed, participants said they conformed due to Normative Social Influence (NSI)—they wanted to avoid standing out.
Asch concluded that even in unambiguous situations, individuals may conform due to group pressure, demonstrating the influence of the majority on individual behavior.
evaluate Asch’s study
- low ecological validity
- population validity/ gender bias
- high internal validity
- real world application
-ethical issues/deception
