Sherif 1939

Created by: louiselouiselouiselouise
Created on: 25-03-21 14:48

What type of conformity did Sherif's study show?

Internalisation

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What was the Aim?

To investigate whether people are influenced by others in a situation where the n
answer is not clear (an ambiguous situation)

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experiment and design type

It was a lab experiment with a repeated measures design

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Method

used the autokinetic effect - darkened room with spot of light that appeared to move - optical illusion
Ppts asked to estimate distance the light had moved, for the first part ppts tested individually, then tested in groups of three where they'd each indi

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Results

Ppts answers converged and they gave more similar estimates than their original answers. The person whose estimate was greatly different to the other two conformed to the view of the other two

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conclusion

people conformed to the majority view. In an ambigious situation, ppts are influenced by the judgement of others

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strength - lab experiment

It was a lab experiment and therefore was high control over extraneous variables. This gives the researcher more confidence of a cause and effect relationship. Therefore, the experiment is high in internal validity.

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strength - useful in understanding conformity

The results were useful in understanding conformity. Sherif didn't ask the group to arrive on a group estimate, it happened naturally. Therefore, it shows that conformity can happen as a result of imagined social pressure.

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weakness - ethics

Sherif used deception which is unethical. He convinced the ppts that the dot was moving, when it wasn't. Therefore the study could be seen as unethical. However, the deception was neccessary for the study or else there would've been no estimate

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weakness - lab

There is low ecological validity as the study took place in a lab setting. The area and task were too artificial meaning social norms didn't apply as they normally would. therefore the study is not reflective of real life.

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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

To investigate whether people are influenced by others in a situation where the n
answer is not clear (an ambiguous situation)

Back

What was the Aim?

Card 3

Front

It was a lab experiment with a repeated measures design

Back

Card 4

Front

Back

Card 5

Front

Ppts answers converged and they gave more similar estimates than their original answers. The person whose estimate was greatly different to the other two conformed to the view of the other two

Back

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Sherif 1939