asch's study

• how was asch's study conducted?

  123 american male undergrad students were tested in a lab. in each trial there were all confederates and one naive who was being studied. they were shown several lines and asked which one was the longest. to see if people follow others even if there is a clear answer.
• what were asch's findings?


  he found that with more than 3 confederates, conformity didn't change. 36.8% of participants conformed. and only 25% never conformed at all.
• what 3 things did asch add in 1955?


  group size - he inceased the amount of confederates in the study, conformity levels increased.

  unanimity - he added a dissenter into the mix who disagreed with the majority whilst not necessarily agreeing with the naive, conformity levels decreased 1/4 less than when there was no unanimous person. it gave the participants more independence and self-esteem

  task difficulty - he made each line similar in length, confusing the naive, conformity increased as it is normal to assume others are right in these situations.
• what is asch's study? 1951

  line conformity study
• strengths of asch's study?


  reliable

  it is safe (ethical)
• limitations of asch's study?


  no generalisabilty

  not applicable to real life situations

  in a controlled environment (validity)
• what validity does asch's study lack?

  ecological validity - controlled environment (a lab) no honesty from ppts. however as their under-grads they may be used to this.

  mundane realism - un-representable of real-life, not realistic to society.

  temporal validity - studies completed in 1950's (issues in America at the time). however conformity is still used in society today.