What did the confederates in Asch's experiment do?

In Asch's experiment on conformity, the confederates were instructed to follow a pre-determined script, responding to questions in a specific manner that deviated from the correct answer. This was designed to assess whether the participant would conform to the majority opinion, even when it was clearly incorrect. The confederates deliberately gave unanimous wrong answers to see how it affected the lone participant's responses.

This deliberate orchestration helped researchers to study the impact of social pressure on individual decision-making and how group dynamics could influence personal judgment. The script allowed the researchers to maintain control over the experiment's variables, ensuring that the responses from the confederates were consistent and reliable in creating the intended social pressure on the participants.

The other options do not accurately reflect the role of the confederates in the study. While confederates did introduce elements of confusion through their incorrect answers, their primary function was to follow the script rather than to promote individual decision-making or provide assistance. Thus, the correct answer captures the structured methodology of the experiment effectively.