AQA A Level Psychology
Example ⅞ Mark Essay
Social Influence - Conformity
Paper Reference - 7182/1
Outline Asch’s findings in relation to two variables affecting conformity. Briefly explain two
limitations of Asch’s conformity research.
[8 Marks]
One variable that Asch investigated was the size of the group. Asch found that as the size of
the group initially increased, conformity of the participants drastically increased. However,
when the group hit 3 members in size, conformity seemed to plateau and increasing group
size then had an insignificant impact on conformity. Another variable Asch investigated was
unanimity. Asch found that when all of the confederates were unanimous, all gave the same
wrong answer, conformity increased and became more prominent. However, when there
was one or more dissenters, conformity began to decrease as the participant had support
from another member of the group.
One limitation of Asch’s research is that it doesn’t meet all of the ethical guidelines. This is
because the participants were deceived about there being confederates in the groups of
participants. This is a limitation because the research defies the moral expectations
expected from it and means that informed consent could not be gathered from participants
beforehand. This may make them more inclined to withdraw their results.
Another limitation of Asch’s research is that there was a very limited sample. Because of
this, the sample was not representative of the whole population. As a result, the findings
were less ecologically valid as they could not be generalised to the rest of the population.
This is a limitation because it could be argued that the findings cannot provide a valid
explanation for conformity as it cannot be applied to conformity shown by the rest of the
population.
Example ⅞ Mark Essay
Social Influence - Conformity
Paper Reference - 7182/1
Outline Asch’s findings in relation to two variables affecting conformity. Briefly explain two
limitations of Asch’s conformity research.
[8 Marks]
One variable that Asch investigated was the size of the group. Asch found that as the size of
the group initially increased, conformity of the participants drastically increased. However,
when the group hit 3 members in size, conformity seemed to plateau and increasing group
size then had an insignificant impact on conformity. Another variable Asch investigated was
unanimity. Asch found that when all of the confederates were unanimous, all gave the same
wrong answer, conformity increased and became more prominent. However, when there
was one or more dissenters, conformity began to decrease as the participant had support
from another member of the group.
One limitation of Asch’s research is that it doesn’t meet all of the ethical guidelines. This is
because the participants were deceived about there being confederates in the groups of
participants. This is a limitation because the research defies the moral expectations
expected from it and means that informed consent could not be gathered from participants
beforehand. This may make them more inclined to withdraw their results.
Another limitation of Asch’s research is that there was a very limited sample. Because of
this, the sample was not representative of the whole population. As a result, the findings
were less ecologically valid as they could not be generalised to the rest of the population.
This is a limitation because it could be argued that the findings cannot provide a valid
explanation for conformity as it cannot be applied to conformity shown by the rest of the
population.
