Which of the following is considered a major flaw in Solomon Asch's conformity study?

• A. The study only measured emotional responses and did not assess behavior.
• B. The study lacked ecological validity because the tasks were artificial and did not reflect real-life situations.
• C. The study exclusively focused on the influence of authority figures rather than peer pressure.
• D. The study failed to include any control group for comparison.

Answer: (B)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the purpose of Solomon Asch's conformity study, which was to investigate how individuals conform to group pressure in a controlled setting.
2. Step 2: Recognize that the study used a simple, artificial task (line length comparison) to measure conformity, which may not represent real-world social situations.
3. Step 3: Identify that ecological validity refers to how well the findings of a study generalize to real-life contexts outside the laboratory.
4. Step 4: Analyze the options given and note that the major flaw highlighted is the lack of ecological validity due to the artificial nature of the task.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the correct critique is that the study's tasks were artificial and did not reflect real-life situations, which limits the generalizability of the results.