Asch's Research

• AO1 of Asch's Line Study


  Aim - to investigate reactions to group pressure (conformity) This was tested using an unambiguous stimuli

  
  

  Method - 123 male students from the US. These were the naive participants. A true participant was seated in a row among confederates. The participant was seated 6th in a row of 7 people.

  
  

  • Participants were instructed to pick which of three lines matched a standard line. The true participant could see that one of those lines was obviously wrong.

  • 18 trials. On the early trials the confederates gave the correct answer. On the 12 'critical' trials they selected the wrong answer

  
  

  Results - 36.8% of the time, participants gave the wrong answer (conformity)

  
  

  • 25% of participants never gave a wrong answer (never conformed). 75% conformed at least once. A few conformed most of the time - individual differences

  
  

  Conclusion - People conform to group pressure even when there is an obvious correct answer. However a high percentage of the time, people can resist the pressure to conform
• AO3 of Asch's Line Study


  Weakness

  P - the task and situation were artificial

  E - Participants knew they were in a study and may have acted differently and gone along with what's expected (demand characteristics). The task is not related to real life

  C - This means the findings do not generalise to real world situations

  
  

  Weakness

  P - All his participants were male undergraduates from America

  E - There is now research which shows that females conform more. The Us is also an individualist culture so some collectivist cultures may find different results

  C - This means his findings tell us little about conformity in women and across cultures

  
  

  Weakness

  P - His study has ethical issues

  E - The naïve participants were deceived as they did not know the true intentions of the study

  C - This means the study has issues