Which of the following was true of participants in the original Asch study?

The statement that participants in the original Asch study were all male students of a similar age is correct. Solomon Asch conducted his experiment in the 1950s, focusing on conformity and social influence, and the subjects were predominantly college-aged males. This demographic choice was partly due to the context in which the research was conducted—Asch was interested in understanding conformity in a social and experimental setting with individuals who shared similar life experiences and educational backgrounds.

In contrast to the correct answer, the other options presented do not accurately reflect the composition of the participants in the study. Participants were not exclusively female, nor did they represent a diverse age group, as all were young male students. Furthermore, while the participants may not have known each other personally before the experiment, they were all part of the same college environment, which implies some level of commonality that would be absent among complete strangers. Thus, the homogeneous nature of the participant group significantly influenced the dynamics of the experiment and the results concerning conformity.