Summarise the aims & context of Asch study into conformity
Conformity (which typically takes the form of majority influence) can be defined as the tendency to alter your beliefs, opinions, attitudes & behaviour to fit in with the majority view. In fact, it is suggested that even our perceptions, the way we see things, can be affected by group pressure. It’s yielding to group pressure in terms of our expressed attitudes of behaviour. Its good (desirable) in that it creates social unity & everything flows better, however it can be undesirable if you change morals/values just to fit in.
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
The Quality of Written Communication (QWC) is quite poor, but generally the answer is legible. The candidate makes brief sentences and uses a few shorthand techniques (such as the ampersand (&) and writing numbers instead of spelling their words). All these may seem small, but they are discouraged in proper essay writing, and will lose QWC marks if it is not rectified.
Level of analysis
The Level of Analysis isn't measured here, as no marks are awarded for AO2 here. The candidate will be marked on AO1 (knowledge and understanding). The candidate's answer is brief but manages to convey a number of significant factors pertaining to investigative intentions of the Asch study into majority influence and normative social conformity. A few more key-words like "normative social conformity" and "experimental confederates" will help fortify the answer and give the examiner a better impression of knowledge about the psychology of conformity, though.
Response to question
This is a summary answer to a question asking the candidate to briefly sum up the aims and purpose of the study by Asch into majority influence and normative social conformity. The answer is a suitable length, and includes everything except two crucial features and because of that the answer struggles to pull itself above a C grade for A Level. The answer is perfect except for the need for the candidate to write down the results of the study, and also much more detail with regard to the actual procedure. Though an exhaustive procedural write-up is not required, the candidate will need to indicate to the examiner they are familiar with what Asch did to his participants when conducting this study.
