Jenness (white beans) study

• Procedure:


  101 Male and Female psychology students made private, independent estimations of the number of white beans in a jar. This was an ambiguous task, where the correct answer was unclear. Participants then discussed their estimations in a large group, before agreeing upon a group estimation. Participants then made a second, independent estimation. The difference between the first and second private estimation was recorded.
• Findings:


  Individuals second private estimation moved closer to the group estimation. For example, the male participants, the mean of their first private estimation was 790 beans, whilst the mean of their second estimation was 695 beans. Female participants were more likely to conform than men.
• Conclusions


  Jenness's research provides strong evidence for internalisation; participants changed their estimation because they publicly and privately agreed with the majority group, as shown by the change in the second private estimation.

  Jenness's research provides strong evidence for information social influence; participants changed their estimation because they wanted to be right and they believed that others held the correct answer. This is because the task was ambiguous meaning participants felt uncertain about their own previous responses.
• Limitations of Jenness

  • Low ecological validity - cannot be generalised to a variety of real-life settings - laboratory - tell us very little about conformity in real life situations.
  • Lack of informed consent - not made fully aware of the research aims, procedures and anticipated findings beforehand - otherwise would cause a negative impact on the findings.
• Limitations of Jenness

  • Low population validity - cannot be generalised - procedure only uses 101 psychology students - difficult to apply the findings beyond this small group
  • Participants experienced deception - misled by the procedure - could not inform participants of anticipated findings without causing a negative impact on the findings of research.