studies

• asch study, negatives- gender bias as it was an all male study so it is not clear whether the findings are valid in females as well
• negatives of asch study- ethical concerns- asch told pps they were taking part in a study of visual perception, and thus did not give informed consent to the actual study
• further research after Asch's study- perrin and spencer- 1980- conducted an asch-style experiment and found a conformity rate of 0.25%, therefore, it could be argued that the results of Asch's study were of a different era and do not represent conformity and the idea of NSI in 2025.
• However, perrin and spencer used a very different sample in comparison to Asch, consisting of engineering and mathematical students, therefore it can be that the lower levels of conformity were also influenced by the pps expertise in problem-solving tasks
• ISI- Jeness (1932) - pps were asked to initially make independent judgements about the number of jelly beans contained in a jar and then discuss their estimates in a group- following the discussion, individuals then made another private estimate. Jeness found this second private estimate moved closer to the group estimate and that females typically conformed more. This shows ISI will occur in unfamiliar situations as pps believed they gained more knowledge from the group they thought was right
• While Jeness' study provides evidence for ISI, it also lacks ecological validity, providing an estimate of the number of jelly beans is a rather mundane task with no social consequences.