6th May 2014
Note that in the original Asch (1955), Opinions and social pressure, at the point when it discusses the variations on the baseline study, the figure of the total number of trials for 'a partner who changes his mind' is not given. This contrasts with the book you have reference to, which implies erroneously, that the total number of trials was twelve: "..In this variation, the confederate partner starts by giving correct responses for the first six critical trials, but then joined the majority for the remaining six trials."
The original paper simply says that 'after six trials the partner joined the majority' and that 'as soon as he did so, there was an abrupt rise in the subjects' errors.' It would seem to be the case then, that this is an error in the book, which has not been picked up in the editing process.
Note that in the original Asch (1955), Opinions and social pressure, at the point when it discusses the variations on the baseline study, the figure of the total number of trials for 'a partner who changes his mind' is not given. This contrasts with the book you have reference to, which implies erroneously, that the total number of trials was twelve: "..In this variation, the confederate partner starts by giving correct responses for the first six critical trials, but then joined the majority for the remaining six trials."
The original paper simply says that 'after six trials the partner joined the majority' and that 'as soon as he did so, there was an abrupt rise in the subjects' errors.' It would seem to be the case then, that this is an error in the book, which has not been picked up in the editing process.
In the exam simply miss out the figure for the total number of trials at this point, (that is, in the additional procedures section only, not when you are writing about the main, baseline study). In the main baseline study make clear that there were 18 trials.