ASCH

• What was the main purpose of Asch's experiment?

  To test conformity
• What was the procedure used in Asch's conformity experiment?

  • Participants shown two large white cards: one with a standard line and one with comparison lines.
  • Asked to match the comparison line with the standard line.
  • Each participant tested individually with a group of 6-8 confederates.
• How many American male undergraduates participated in Asch's experiment?

  123
• What is a confederate in the context of Asch's experiment?


  A confederate is someone pretending to be a participant but is actually part of the experiment
• Did the naive participant know they were with confederates?

  No, the naive participant did not know they were with confederates
• What percentage of the time did the naive participant give the wrong answer?

  36.8%
• What percentage of participants did not conform in Asch's experiment?

  25%
• What percentage of participants conformed at least once in Asch's experiment?

  75%
• What was the reason for conformity with the Asch experiment

  The participants said they conformed to avoid rejection
• What was the main purpose of Asch's experiment on conformity?

  To test conformity by having participants identify lines of the same length
• How many male American undergraduates participated in Asch's conformity study?

  123 male American undergraduates
• How many confederates were involved in Asch's study?

  8 confederates
• What was the effect of group size on conformity in Asch's study?

  Conformity rose to 31.8% with 3 confederates
• What is the significance of unanimity in relation to conformity?

  A group needs to be unanimous for conformity to be high
• How did the presence of a dissenting confederate affect conformity rates?

  It reduced conformity to 25%
• How did task difficulty influence conformity in Asch's study?

  Increased task difficulty led to increased conformity
• What are the key variations in Asch's conformity study?

  • Group Size: Conformity rose to 31.8% with 3 confederates.
  • Unanimity: Presence of a dissenting confederate reduced conformity to 25%.
  • Task Difficulty: More similar line lengths increased conformity.
• What is meant by unanimity in relation to conformity?

  Unanimity refers to the agreement among group members, which influences individual conformity
• EVALUATION OF ASCH’S STUDY

  Ethics issues in Asch’s Research included deception and lack of informed consent.The participants did not know they were with conferderates which would have adapted his findings if the participants had informed consent because they would have changed the behaviour. This therefore means Asch’s research may not be able to be repeated if the ethical issues were not overcome
• EVALUATION OF ASCH’S STUDY

  There was a limited application of findings in Asch’s research task. Only men were tested by Asch and some research has found that women might be more conformist(Neto 1995) The men from the USA were apart of an individualist culture whereas a collective culture might be more conformist. It is not useful because findings are only applicable to a certain population as it lacks population validity