Research into conformity

• What was the aim of Jenness's (1932) study?

  To investigate group influence on jellybean estimates
• What procedure did participants follow in Jenness's study?

  They made individual estimates, then discussed, and estimated again
• What did Jenness's findings show about participants' estimates?

  Participants converged towards majority group estimates
• Which group showed greater change in estimates in Jenness's study?

  Females showed greater change
• What conclusion did Jenness's study support regarding social influence?

  It supports the explanation of social influence because of the desire to be right
• What are the evaluation points of Jenness's study?

  • Involved deception, but less severe than others
  • Lacks ecological validity
  • Conducted in a lab, affecting mundane realism
  • Extraneous variables like personality and IQ
• How many participants were involved in Asch's (1991) study?

  123 American male student volunteers
• What was the procedure used in Asch's study?

  Participants were placed in groups with confederates
• What task did participants perform in Asch's study?

  Visual line judgment task
• How many incorrect answers did confederates give in Asch's study?

  Confederates answered incorrectly 12 out of 18 times
• What were the results of the control group in Asch's study?

  They made only 3 mistakes out of 720
• What percentage of participants conformed to at least one wrong answer in Asch's study?

  75% of participants conformed to at least one wrong answer
• What was the overall conformity rate found in Asch's study?

  32% overall conformity rate
• What were the common reasons for conformity identified in Asch's post-interviews?

  • Distortion of action (to avoid ridicule)
  • Distortion of judgment (doubts of accuracy)
  • Distortion of perception (believed they were wrong)
• What conclusion did Asch's study provide evidence for?

  It supports normative social influence (NSI)
• How did reducing public pressure affect conformity rates in Asch's study?

  It reduced the rate of conformity
• What are the evaluation points of Asch's study?

  • Individual differences affect results (e.g., personality)
  • High internal validity due to lab experiment
  • Lacks external validity and mundane realism
  • Ethical concerns due to deception