confederate

Examples of confederate in the following topics:

• Conformity

  • These people were confederates, or individuals who were posing as other participants but were really working for the researchers.
  • The participant and confederates would be shown a series of cards that had a reference line and another card that had three comparison lines.
  • The participant and confederates were instructed to provide their answers out loud, and the confederates were told to sometimes unanimously provide a correct answer and sometimes an incorrect answer.
  • When Asch had the confederates all choose the same obviously incorrect answer, participants also chose the wrong line 37% of the time.
  • Public responses, those that were spoken in the presence of the confederates, were associated with higher levels of conformity than private, written responses.

• Obedience

  • The experiments involved a "teacher" who conducted the experiment, a participant, and a confederate who pretended to be a volunteer.
  • A confederate is someone who is a part of the experiment, but who pretends to be a participant in the study.
  • At this point, many participants indicated their desire to stop the experiment and check on the confederate; however, most of them continued after being assured they would not be held responsible.
  • Most participants paused and questioned the experiment at some point, but 26 out of 40 still administered the full shock, even after the confederate ceased to respond.