THE POWER OF CONFORMITY Opinions and Social Pressure Most people are willing to admit we are conformist enough to blend into public settings, groups, schools, etc., but nonconformist enough to be free thinkers, responsible for our own ideas and beliefs. In the early 1950’s, Solomon Asch completed a systemic study, involving perceptual conformity, which provided us with new information about conformity, resulting in new hypotheses in future research. Asch believed the power of conformity was so irresistible, that researchers could manipulate a person’s behavior by applying group pressure to conform. He chose a visual test to apply his hypothesis. The materials used for Asch’s experiment were two cards with lines on them. One card had one line. The second card included three lines, each of a different length. The subject entered a room,
where other subjects were already seated with the same cards. Each person is indivually asked which line on the second card is the same size as the line on the first card.
Results Everyone says the same, correct answer. The test is repeated again with different sized lines, everyone contiues to have the same answer. On the third trial, everyone else is giving the wrong answer. The subject becomes confused and is unsure why their answer is not matching everyone else’s answer. Out of all test subjects, 75% of them went with the group and said the wrong answer! Asch conlcuded as long as people had one person in agreement, they were more likely to stick with their answer. He also concluded once a group was larger than seven people, conformity began to decrease.
the amount of information available, among many more variables continue to be studied. While cultural differences are noted, Asch’s studies are still valid. Conformity is very active within groups to fit into social norms.
Related Research Asch opened the door to the field of psychology to explore many other aspects of conformity including the effect of conformity in real life, among a group of people we know, whoms opinions we care about. In 1996, a study was done by Bond and Smith to determine if our tendency to conform has changed over time. They found a decrease since 1950 and culture has a large impact on conformity. In countries that vaule larger social groups such as Japan and India, conformity occurs more frequently.
Bond & Smith Results
Criticism Asch did have his critics. It is questioned if conclusions about human behavior can actually be made from lines on a paper. As more studies are completed, things such as cultural differences, sex,
Conformtiy is a topic that continues to be studied, as the influence of culture affects the majorty of human behaviors.