Social Anthropology Blog - The Conformity Experiment
Asher Forman
Mr. Roddy
IHSS
24 September 2019
Solomon picked out a group of University students, although most of the people that participated in this experiment knew what was going on. This made it so only a couple of participants were being tested. Although, what is the experiment, and how was it performed? Well, each person was given the same two cards that had different sized lines on them. On one card, there was a singular line, and on the other card, there were three lines. The person would then have to decide which line was the same length as the card with the singular line. People that were in on the experiment would answer before the people that were not, and they would either say the correct answer or the incorrect one out loud. Once this experiment was done, Solomon was able to see if people were susceptible to group conformity (Crossman).
It turns out that the people affected by group conformity was around one-third of the class. Also, only one-fourth of the people gave correct answers on the test. The rest of the group fluctuated between right and wrong answers. Many people when talked to after the experiment stated that they were nervous to give a different answer from the group or just flat out thought that the wrong answer was right. This is very interesting as it shows that group influence can have such a strong effect on someone (Crossman).
After reading this, I wanted to learn how I might perform a conformity experiment in modern-day, as this one was performed in the 1950s. Obviously, this is a simpler question, but the article I researched talks about if everyone was given a math problem. The problem the class is given is to find the answer to 6x4? The teacher then begins to individually call on all of the students to confirm that they know the answer. Although, the first couple of people started to say that the answer was 20. If you just learned multiplication, would you follow the group and say that the answer is 20, or would you say 24 (Cherry)?
I think group influence is very interesting as everyone including me has been susceptible to this. During school, many classmates will say the same answer, which inclines the next person to answer with the one that their previous classmates gave regardless if it is right. This is due to people not wanting to feel different from their classmates. Group influence shows that people don’t fully trust themselves, and just seem to be a follower and not a leader. It’s important to recognize what this influence can do so that people realize that it is okay and perfectly fine to be different from the group and have one's own thoughts and answers.
Cherry, Kendra. “How to Test Conformity With Your Own Psychology Experiment.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 17 Sept. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/conformity-experiment-2795661.
Mr. Roddy
IHSS
24 September 2019
The Conformity Experiment
Group influence is something that many people are susceptible to. This is because if a bunch of people were to answer a question, the next person would be inclined to give the same answer to this question as the person before them. Obviously, not everyone would give the same answer that the person before them did, but the majority of people would. A curious psychologist in the 1950s named Solomon Asch decided to put this idea to the test.Solomon picked out a group of University students, although most of the people that participated in this experiment knew what was going on. This made it so only a couple of participants were being tested. Although, what is the experiment, and how was it performed? Well, each person was given the same two cards that had different sized lines on them. On one card, there was a singular line, and on the other card, there were three lines. The person would then have to decide which line was the same length as the card with the singular line. People that were in on the experiment would answer before the people that were not, and they would either say the correct answer or the incorrect one out loud. Once this experiment was done, Solomon was able to see if people were susceptible to group conformity (Crossman).
It turns out that the people affected by group conformity was around one-third of the class. Also, only one-fourth of the people gave correct answers on the test. The rest of the group fluctuated between right and wrong answers. Many people when talked to after the experiment stated that they were nervous to give a different answer from the group or just flat out thought that the wrong answer was right. This is very interesting as it shows that group influence can have such a strong effect on someone (Crossman).
After reading this, I wanted to learn how I might perform a conformity experiment in modern-day, as this one was performed in the 1950s. Obviously, this is a simpler question, but the article I researched talks about if everyone was given a math problem. The problem the class is given is to find the answer to 6x4? The teacher then begins to individually call on all of the students to confirm that they know the answer. Although, the first couple of people started to say that the answer was 20. If you just learned multiplication, would you follow the group and say that the answer is 20, or would you say 24 (Cherry)?
I think group influence is very interesting as everyone including me has been susceptible to this. During school, many classmates will say the same answer, which inclines the next person to answer with the one that their previous classmates gave regardless if it is right. This is due to people not wanting to feel different from their classmates. Group influence shows that people don’t fully trust themselves, and just seem to be a follower and not a leader. It’s important to recognize what this influence can do so that people realize that it is okay and perfectly fine to be different from the group and have one's own thoughts and answers.
Work Cited
Crossman, Ashley. “The Asch Conformity Experiments and Social Pressure.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 17 May 2018, www.thoughtco.com/asch-conformity-experiment-3026748.Cherry, Kendra. “How to Test Conformity With Your Own Psychology Experiment.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 17 Sept. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/conformity-experiment-2795661.
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