AQA GCSE PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS
& DETAILED ANSWERS ALREADY GRADED A+
1. Asch's study Conformity
2. Asch's aim Asch (1955) set out to investigate how people
respond to group pressure.
3. Asch's Method 123 American male students. Each of these naïve
partici- pants was tested with a group of between
6-8 confeder- ates.
Shown picture attached, and asked which 2 lines
matched. 18 trials and on 12 of them (the 'critical'
trials) confeder- ates all answered the same wrong
answer
4. Asch's results Participants conformed on 38.6% of trial
25% never conformed so 75% conformed at least
once.
5. Asch's study Evaluation 1 May only be relevant to 1950s America. Particularly
con-
formist time as people afraid to behave
ditterently. Another study by Perrin and Spencer
conducted in the UK found just 1 conforming
response in 396 trials.
6. Asch's Study Evaluation 2 Artificial tasks - Doesn't reflect everyday situations
where
people conform. The group formed was not like a
,AQA GCSE PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS
& DETAILED ANSWERS ALREADY GRADED A+
group of friends.
Ungeneralisable.
7. Asch's Study Evaluation 3 Cultural Ditterences - It is more reflective of
individualist
cultures like the US and the UK.
,AQA GCSE PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS
& DETAILED ANSWERS ALREADY GRADED A+
Results can't be generalised to collectivist cultures
where rates are higher (Bond and Smith)
8. Social factors affecting group size, task diflculty, anonymity
confor- mity
9. Group size Asch increased the number of confederates and
found it increased the number of people who
conformed
10. Group size evaluation group size has ditterent ettects depending on type
of task.
(In Asch's study the answer was obvious but when
consid- ering musical preferences, it is not.)
11. Anonymity Asch altered his method so that participants
answered on a piece of paper anonymously.
Results showed less conformity.
12. Anonymity evaluation Asch's study involved a group of strangers.
Ettect of anonymity changes if group are friends
(Huang and LI)
13. Task difficulty Harder tasks make the answer less certain and so
people feel less confident and may look to others
for the answer.
14. Task difficulty evaluation Does not apply as much to people with greater
expertise
15. Dispositional factors Personality and expertise
affecting conformity
16. locus of control internals believe they are in control whereas externals
, AQA GCSE PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS
& DETAILED ANSWERS ALREADY GRADED A+
be- lieve it is a matter of luck and other outside
forces.
17. Personality
& DETAILED ANSWERS ALREADY GRADED A+
1. Asch's study Conformity
2. Asch's aim Asch (1955) set out to investigate how people
respond to group pressure.
3. Asch's Method 123 American male students. Each of these naïve
partici- pants was tested with a group of between
6-8 confeder- ates.
Shown picture attached, and asked which 2 lines
matched. 18 trials and on 12 of them (the 'critical'
trials) confeder- ates all answered the same wrong
answer
4. Asch's results Participants conformed on 38.6% of trial
25% never conformed so 75% conformed at least
once.
5. Asch's study Evaluation 1 May only be relevant to 1950s America. Particularly
con-
formist time as people afraid to behave
ditterently. Another study by Perrin and Spencer
conducted in the UK found just 1 conforming
response in 396 trials.
6. Asch's Study Evaluation 2 Artificial tasks - Doesn't reflect everyday situations
where
people conform. The group formed was not like a
,AQA GCSE PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS
& DETAILED ANSWERS ALREADY GRADED A+
group of friends.
Ungeneralisable.
7. Asch's Study Evaluation 3 Cultural Ditterences - It is more reflective of
individualist
cultures like the US and the UK.
,AQA GCSE PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS
& DETAILED ANSWERS ALREADY GRADED A+
Results can't be generalised to collectivist cultures
where rates are higher (Bond and Smith)
8. Social factors affecting group size, task diflculty, anonymity
confor- mity
9. Group size Asch increased the number of confederates and
found it increased the number of people who
conformed
10. Group size evaluation group size has ditterent ettects depending on type
of task.
(In Asch's study the answer was obvious but when
consid- ering musical preferences, it is not.)
11. Anonymity Asch altered his method so that participants
answered on a piece of paper anonymously.
Results showed less conformity.
12. Anonymity evaluation Asch's study involved a group of strangers.
Ettect of anonymity changes if group are friends
(Huang and LI)
13. Task difficulty Harder tasks make the answer less certain and so
people feel less confident and may look to others
for the answer.
14. Task difficulty evaluation Does not apply as much to people with greater
expertise
15. Dispositional factors Personality and expertise
affecting conformity
16. locus of control internals believe they are in control whereas externals
, AQA GCSE PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 2 QUESTIONS
& DETAILED ANSWERS ALREADY GRADED A+
be- lieve it is a matter of luck and other outside
forces.
17. Personality
