Social influence - ethical and methodological issues with the studies used.
Internal validity - Sherif
Task was ambiguous, could have conformed because of demand characteristic (other's behaviour)
Methodological issues include
internal validity, external validity and ecological validity.
External validity - Asch
# All American males - biased and unrepresentative sample cannot be generalised to other populations. # Studies carried out during the cold war - hunts for anyone who behaved in a non American way. It was sensible to conform.
External validity - Milgram
# Unrepresentative sample, questionable cross-cultural replicability (participants were of ages 20-50, males.) HOWEVER, he did later test females and find similar levels of obedience.
Is the research of important value?
- Sherif and Asch's experiments show people do conform - Studies on obedience highlight the importance of authority.
Deception is used in which studies. Why?
Asch, Milgram, Sherif and Gamson because of the purpose of the study
Protection from harm should...
Be no greater than normal life
Ethical issues include
Deception Respect for privacy Informed consent Debriefing Protection from harm
Internal validity - Asch
High internal validity, because it is a lab experiment. However, some participants did say that that conformed to please the experimenter not due to group pressure.
Respect for privacy is used in which studies? What was the benefit of this?
Hofling and Bickman's participants did not know they were being a part of a study. This is a benefit because this strengthened both internal and ecological validity
Debriefing?
Milgram debriefed his participants, this removed the problem of deception and giving them the right to withdraw.
Ecological validity - Asch
Not everyday life
Ecological validity - Milgram
Not everyday life
Ecological validity - Sherif
Not everyday life
Informed consent was not obtained by which studies?
Presumptive consent was taken by Milgram. Informed consent was not because of the purpose of the study. As well as Hofling and Bickman because they did not know they were in a study.
Protection from harm - Milgram
Suffered from stress, however all debriefed. 84% said they were glad to take part and none suffered long term emotional disturbances
Protection from harm - Asch
Suffered from stress, however nothing was out of the ordinary
Internal validity - Milgram
Were not convinced by the set-up of the experiment and merely obeyed because of demand characteristics. This is unlikely because participants were given sample shocks and suffered from varying levels of stress.
