asch

• pps- 123 males- beta bias
• study of visual perception
• pps were put in groups with between 7 and 9 confederates
• questions of external/ecological validity- guessing the lengths of lines is a specific and unusual task, as such, it is not clear the extent to which Asch's findings generalise to conformity in the real world
• external validity- a concept psychologists and researchers use to measure how far you can generalise the results of a study in relation to other settings, situations or individuals.
• VARIABLES AFFECTING CONFORMITY- UNANIMITY- pps conformity declined from 32% to 5.5% when one 'Partner' confederate was instructed to give the correct answer and go against the incorrect answer of the majority. Asch's findings- consistent with other research which finds conformity rates decline when the majority answer is not unanimous. In other words, if the majority all agree- the participant is more likely to conform to the group than if there is some disagreement,