Asch Conformity Experiments
The Asch Conformity Experiment was a series of studies conducted to examine behaviour under the pressure of social forces and to investigate whether peer pressure can be strong enough to change our perception and make us believe in things that are not true.
Procedure
In the experiment, a naive subject was brought into a room with 6-8 other students, who were, in fact, actors (also known as confederates) who knew the experiment's purpose. Participants were told that the study involved the perception of lengths of lines and were presented with two cards. One card displayed a single line, and the other card displayed three lines of different lengths. The task was straightforward: each person had to state aloud which of the three lines on the second card was equal in length to the line on the first card. This was not a tricky test; the correct answer was usually obvious.
The group was seated in a way that ensured the actors responded first, leaving the real participant to respond last. For the first two rounds, the confederates gave the correct answer, and the subject typically also gave what they believed to be true. However, starting in the third round, the actors began to respond with a clearly wrong answer. For the next 12 rounds, referred to as "the critical trials", all the confederates would unanimously give the obviously incorrect answer. The innocent subject then faced a dilemma: whether to ignore the majority or ignore the truth.
In some variations of the experiment, the naive subject was given a partner who also gave the correct response. In another variation, subjects were told they would have to write their answers down because they had arrived late, ensuring their responses were private.
Results
Across 18 rounds involving 123 White, male college students, the experiment revealed that 23% of the students always gave the right answer. However, 72% conformed to the majority at least once, and 5% completely succumbed to peer pressure and always gave the obviously wrong answer. When all of the studies were combined, it was found that participants went along with the group on 33% of the critical trials.
The introduction of just one other acting student who responded correctly caused the effect of peer pressure to decrease substantially. In the variation with a partner, yielding dropped to only 5% of the critical trials, compared to 37% without a partner. The experiment also indicated that the opinions of three peers were enough to influence a student to change their mind, and increasing the number beyond three confederates did not significantly increase the levels of conformity. When the subject was allowed to give a private response, the pressure to conform was enormously reduced, and conformity dropped by 2/3.
Interviews revealed that subjects went along with the group for different reasons. Some experienced a distortion of their judgment, genuinely believing that the group was correct ("they must be right, there are four of them and one of me"). Others experienced a distortion at the level of their response, knowing they were right but going along to avoid the discomfort of disagreeing with the group ("I know they're wrong but why should I make waves").
Conclusions
The findings of the Asch Conformity Experiment illustrate the power of normative social influence, where individuals conform to avoid social punishment and not wanting to be seen as an outsider. While it was obvious which line was the correct choice, many participants still chose the incorrect line to fit in. This highlights a deeply human desire to belong. The partnership variation demonstrated that much of the group's power stemmed from its unanimity.
The experiment also touches upon informational Conformity, where someone believes that the group is more informed than they are. However, in the context of the line judgment task, normative social influence appeared to be the stronger factor.
Asch himself noted in 1955 that "the tendency to conformity in our society is so strong that reasonably intelligent and well-meaning young people are willing to call white, black. This is a matter of concern. It raises questions about our ways of education and about the values that guide our conduct.".
Since its original execution in the 1950s, the Asch Conformity Experiment has been successfully replicated many times, and the effect remains significant, suggesting the enduring influence of peer pressure on individual judgment and behaviour. The experiment underscores the importance of being willing to speak out even when one's views differ from the majority.