Introduction
Similarly to the conformity experiment conducted by Solomon Asch (1951), the aim of this experiment was to test various participants in order to gauge a conclusion into the mindset of young adults. The experiment tested how easily the minority of participants would conform to the majority of the confederates to give a specific answer. In this case the confederates were briefed prior to the experiment being taken place to give an incorrect answer in relation to identifying an article of clothing on two different criminals in two separate video clips. This also gives an insight into how witness identification could also be at fault if participants feel pressured into giving a false identification.
Procedure
In the experiment…show more content… The confederates would then watch the two video clips before hand and would then be questioned to observe if they had understood the task. Any questions would then be ask and cleared up and shortly after the confederates would be handed a consent form to fill out to agree to become a confederate. This consent form also gave details of the experiment which the briefing may not he covered and gave contact details of all leaders of the experiment. The participants were then lead into the room and everyone then was briefed into the reasons for the experiment and what would in tale if they chose to take part. The participants were sat in between the confederates to isolate them and to ensure no ‘grouping’ took place. Note: all confederates were briefed as they was a part of the experiment and was a ‘true’ participant. This was to ensure that no false answers were given and formulate an accurate and reliable representation of the participants. Everyone was then shown two clips of two similar robberies which were muted and was asked a question on an article…show more content… For example many participants gave the answer red to the first question because the colour in the video looked very red toned. However in the second clip, participants gave the answer blue and white mostly because the clip had a blue tone to the clothing when the answer was in fact grey and white. This related to the confederates being instructed to give a similar colour to the truth as their answer. Also the individual also related to the difference in the answer because in some cases the confidence level of the participant normally varied the answer. The more confident the participant was, the more likely they was to give the correct answer. Also the less confident the person was the more likely they was to give the incorrect answer. Also when asked to recall the colour of the articles of clothing, the female participants were more efficient in recalling the specific colour of both articles of clothing then men. In the results only 6 men were able to give a positive identification where as the 8 females gave the correct answer for question one. This is similar story in question as only 3 males were able to identify the colour of the jacket in question whereas 5 females were able to give a positive identification on the second question. This could mean that females are more efficient at short term memory recall then men.