Key study-Jenness

• The aim of Jenness experiment is to see whether people will conform when completing a ambiguous task.
• 101 Psychology students were shown a jar of jellybeans and were asked privately to investigate how many were in there. Students could then discuss in small groups and could change there estimate
• They found almost every student changed there original answer. Females changed there answer more than males.
• Conclusions- People will conform more when they don't know the answer. They want to be right, so they will go along with others because they believe they are right.
• One positive of Jenness experiment is that it was a mixed sample gender wise. This means as well as being able to make the results more accurate as they take into account different genders. As well as this, they are able to compare the conformity of males and females.
• One other positive is that this experiment shows ISI and internalisation . This shows ISI because the students are not knowledgeable on the situation which means they will conform with the majority to guess the number of jellybeans. It shows internalisation as the participants were convinced to change there answer to the majority and believe in those views
• One negative is that it was not realistic. Some participants would not have the motivation to do well which means that the results cannot be translated into saying this is how everyone will conform in these scenarios. As well as this, it is not a everyday activity which means it wont show how people will conform to a ambiguous task in real life.
• As well as this, another weakness is that there is a sample bias. This means that it has not taken people in other professions into account as they might be different to psychology students. This means the findings cannot be generalised to everyone.
• Another weakness is that participants could have formed to NSI. They were in groups and to fit into the group they might just agree with the estimate to fit in. This is a example of NSI not ISI