Hypothesis On Conformity

Hypothesis On Conformity
Introduction
Conformity is the tendency for an individual to change their attitude, opinion or behaviour to adhere
to existing social norms. A well–known study of this concept is the Asch conformity experiment, a
series of studies directed by psychologist Solomon Asch studying if and how individuals yield to or
defy a majority group, and the effect of these influences (McLeod, 2008). In this investigation, the
aim is to determine the effect that family size has on conformity, through a common–sense
questionnaire to be completed by the participants. It is expected that participants with larger
families, will be more affected by conformity.
Hypothesis: A participant with a larger family size is more likely to conform compared to a
participant with a smaller family size.
Participants: The participants of this study are 37 Year 11 students in two psychology classes at
Saint Aloysius College. All participants are female, and 16–17 years of age.
Discussion
Interpretation
The hypothesis was not supported when considering the results obtained through the investigation.
The table and graph showed that participants with a larger family size showed lower conformity
levels than those with a smaller family size. Participants with no siblings had an average conformity
score of 11, participants with one sibling decreased very slightly to 10.95 and those with more than
one sibling had a significantly lower score of 8.9. The trend of the graph particularly is contradictory
to the
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Opinions and Social Pressure Essay
Solomon E. Asch "Opinions and Social Pressure" Salomon E. Asch in his essay "Opinions and
Social Pressure" conducted an experiment to determine effects of group pressure towards an
individual and concluded that there is a very strong tendency to conformity even when doing so
conflicting with their own senses of morality. In the experiment a group of young students have to
compare length of lines on two different sheets of paper. On one of them there is a sample single
line and on the other one there are three lines only one of which is same size as the sample line from
the first sheet. People taking part in this experiment are instructed to point at lines that are the same
length. At first, during the experiment the group is ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Breaking up unanimity of the group in given answers has a significant effect. In the experiment it is
also noted that the rate of wrong answers depends to a considerable degree on how wrong the
majority is. Even with significant difference in length of lines there were still individuals who agree
with majority error. For those participating in this experiment almost all declare that independence
was preferable to conformity. "Life in society requires consensus as an indispensable conditions. But
consensus, to be productive, requires that each individual contribute independently out of his
experience and insight. (...) We have found that tendency to conformity in our society so strong that
reasonably and well– meaning young people are willing to call white black is a matter of concern"
(Salomon E. Asch "Opinion and Social Pressure" pp.730). The experiment has proven that we live
in times where opinion become very subjective and can be easily modified. Social techniques are
wildly used in marketing and sales or even by lobbyist in governmental decision making process.
The uncertainty of people own senses, opinion or knowledge can be easily abused. Asch's
experiment implements how people believe in the obvious lies. It's shows simple ways of
influencing perception, judgment and action. Results of this experiment trigger a number of social
and scientifically researches like study of Berns

The Essays On Physiognomy By Solomon Asch
The Essays on Physiognomy, written in 19th century, was a paper which tried to describe in a
"scientific" way how to understand in minutes the character of a person, based only in his physical
traits (Lavater, 1880). The paper, which was based in the same principles of phrenology, became
extreme popular; even if there was nothing supporting the unfounded conclusions of this essay, like
the relation between close eyebrows and stable personality! Still, the popularity of this paper shows
the urge of humans to create and trust quick impressions for others. A predetermination which can
be so important in an evolutionary basis– a fast impression for someone attentions lead to a faster
response– that lead some scientists to propose that this ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Additionally, he discussed order effects. Primacy effects were associated with the first items in the
list which affected impressions more, while recency effects had to do with the fact that the last items
affected impressions more. He also talked about the halo effect, in which the positive or negative
evaluation associated with some traits spreads to others. Moreover, he supported that impressions
have structure and that the meanings of their elements (traits) depend on which other elements are
present.
Implicit personality theory is a network of assumptions that individuals hold about relationships
between people, behaviors and traits. Research has shown that if we know– or believe– that
someone has one particular trait, this leads us to infer that they have other traits as well (Schneider,
1973; Selikides & Anderson, 1994). As we will discuss next, this very useful in cases individual try
to create a positive impression on others.
Research has also suggested that information which is initially presented is more powerful in
forming a general impression, either because new information about a person always means simply
updating the first impression – which always stays there or because individuals tend to pay much
more attention to the information that we encounter first in order to form an impression, thus
assimilating it better (Anderson 1962, 1965).
The Algebraic Model by Anderson (1965) holds that there is a

Solomon Asch Conformity
Solomon Asch set up a laboratory experiment using deception and confederates to determine what
factors were involved in conformity and individual decisions in group decisions. Asch instructed
subjects to choose which of three lines was the same length as the original line shown. Each subject
was on a panel with seven other subjects, however in reality were confederates. The experimenter
demonstrated the two cards and asked the individuals to choose the line on the comparison card that
is the same length as the standard line. In the second trial the process was repeated again. However,
on the third trial, when the card is revealed everyone gave wrong answers. The results indicate that
approximately 75% of the subjects went with the group's

Sticking to Your Guns or Conforming to Social Pressure in...
Conforming to Social Pressures
How do people conform to social pressures? Will they go along with other's opinions, or will they
stick to their guns and trust their own judgments? To determine the effect of socials pressure on
decision making, an experiment was performed to test the hypothesis; If a person is presented with
visual information in a group setting and asked questions about their perception of what they see,
will they truthfully respond if others in the group unanimously choose the wrong answer? A study
titled "A Minority of One Against a Unanimous Majority", Solomon E. Asch designed an
experiment to test the power of social forces to understand the extent of influence they have on
psychological function. (Asch) The ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Data was collected for each of the experimental groups and showed that 37 or the 50 critical
subjects "conformed themselves to the obviously erroneous answers given by the other group
members at least once, and 14 of them conformed on more than 6 of the staged trials." (Solomon
Asch experiment (1958) A study of conformity) Looking further in to the data, it was determined
that some of the critical subjects always yielded to the majority response and others never went with
the majority, but most of the subjects "did not belong to either of these extremes (Asch)." The mode
of the data showed that the majority of the subjects that decided to conform to the majority did so in
the second trial, indicating that the stress of answering differently than the majority of the
participants caused them to consistently adopt a course of action to avoid singling themselves out
(Asch). Considering that some of the subjects did not conform until about midway through the
experiment the results showed that most individuals show a high "internal consistency (Asch)", that
is, once the critical subject decided to conform to the majority, they stuck with that strategy for the
rest of the experiment. In 1951 Asch conducted further trials where he changed the independent
variables to try to figure out what factors most influence the dependent variable, conformity. He
concluded that the factors increasing conformity were; the size of the group, the larger the test
group, the more likely

Asch Line Experiment Paper
Taking each of these experiments into mind, my research group, consisting of Brian Muriithi, Cade
Curran, Champlin Janz, Eric Altilanochir, and myself, decided to conduct the same study in 1951
with our own Asch Line experiment. The purpose of our experiment was similar to the one of Asch's
in 1951: to examine the extent of the effect social pressure from the majority of a group has on a
person. For this experiment, we drew a series of three different lines on different sheets of poster
paper. Two lines were similar, while one was radically different from the rest. For each trial, we
would place two confederates, which are stooges that have prior knowledge of the experiment to
help us collect data, in a room with a single participant. The ... Show more content on
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We hypothesized that there would in fact be a relationship between the answers the confederates
would give, and the responses and behavior of the participants themselves. And if there were no
correlation between the two variables, then our null hypothesis would be accepted.Our experiment's
results also could have been affected by a myriad of confounding variables (factors we couldn't
factor for): gender of liars, race of liars, grade of liars, reputation of liars, confidence of liars, diction
used by liars, different liars in between trials, relationship between test subject and liars, the liars
coming in from a separate room, sunlight in the room (Small, but still potentially significant),
unorganized feeling of the room, two upperclassmen conducting the experiment on underclassmen,
sight variation between speed of questions and diction, changing incorrect answers of 'lead' liars,
changing entrance time between liars, test subjects together in a room before experiment, test
subjects from same advisory. The time in which we conducted the experiment, right before prep
academy lunch, may have also had an effect on

Analysis Of The Book ' A Few Good Men ' By Solomon E. Asch
Comparative Analysis The foundation of today's society is not in immense chaos or destruction, but
rather in an organizational order because of the choice in obedience. As depicted in the movie, "A
Few Good Men", obedience is questioned due to soldiers choosing to obey or not when it presents
the case of Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson and Pfc. Louden Downey being disciplined for committing a
crime, even if they were only following orders. Eric Fromm, a social psychologist and
psychoanalyst, furthers points in whether it is permissible to commit a crime under the pretext of
obeying orders in his article, "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem". Comparatively,
Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, addresses obedience overriding ... Show more content on
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Markinson disrupted social order by effectively disobeying Jessup, but Little and Fromm would
coherently agree that the individualistic courage to disobey displayed by Markinson was extremely
difficult and nearly impossible; however, this disobedience was greatly needed for an effective
outcome. Although breaking social order is viewed as unsuitable and "out of character", Brandt, an
experimenter from Milgram's research, demonstrated a clear break from authority which made
disobedience a simple and rational deed (Milgram 80). Stephen Covey, an American educator,
author, business man, and keynote speaker, wrote "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", which
puts rational deeds into fundamental concepts called principles (Covey 34). According to Covey,
principles are self–evident natural laws and part of the human conscience that act as guidelines for
human conduct which are proven to have enduring, permanent value; furthermore, obedience is
declared a permanent principle (Covey 35). Markinson refutes this claim by telling the truth about
Jessup's intentions which displays someone's ability to break a "permanent principle". Milgram's
concept of disobedience acting as a principle contradicts with Covey's more effective justification of
obedience being a principle. In the end, Fromm and Milgram conclude that Markinson did have the
choice to disobey, just as any other soldier would possess, even with the difficult struggles that Little

Stanley Milgram's Theory Of Conformity
Stanley Milgram, born in 1933, was raised in the Bronx in New York City with his two siblings. He
grew up in a working class Jewish family (Rogers 2016, p 2). Through his studies, Milgram
developed an interest in science and the arts (Rogers 2016, p 2). After graduating James Monroe
high school in 1950 he completed his bachelor degree in political science at Queens College (Rogers
2016, p 2). He earned his PhD at Harvard under Gordon Allport (Miller 1997, p 2). Milgram's
background helped him developed an interest in social issues, particularly conformity. This interest
would eventually combine with his Jewish heritage and propel his studies on obedience. He went on
to study under Solomon Asch, who was also researching conformity and how ... Show more content
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In pursuit of information, he traveled to Paris, France and Oslo, Norway to study differing
conformity rates between countries(Rogers 2016, p 3). Milgram found Norway and the US had
similar conformity rates and the French conformed the least(Rogers 2016, p 3). After his graduation
from Harvard in 1960, Milgram became an assistant professor at Yale, where he was able to further
develop his interest in obedience (Rogers 2016, p 4). Living through WWII and the Holocaust with
his Jewish heritage made Milgram more curious about obedience to authority and how it applied in
this particular scenario (Blass 1998 page 3). This led Milgram to a question specific to the
Holocaust;" Just how far would a person go under the experimenter's orders?" (Milgram 1977). This
question became the basis for Milgram's famous "shock experiments" . He was curious about what
made these people commit lethal acts and what factors had influenced them in the process (Blass
1998 page 1). Although his question was specific to the Holocaust, his findings reveal general
information and cannot be attributed to particular instances . He wanted to test how far people under
the influence of an authority figure would go if they believed they were harming someone to the
point of death (Slater 2004 page

Solomon Asch Conformity Experiments (1951) Essay
In 1951, Solomon Asch carried out several experiments on conformity. The aim of these studies was
to investigate conformity in a group environment situation. The purpose of these experiments was to
see if an individual would be swayed by public pressure to go along with the incorrect answer. Asch
believed that conformity reflects on relatively rational process in which people are pressured to
change their behaviour. Asch designed experiments to measure the pressure of a group situation
upon an individual judgment. Asch wanted to prove that conformity can really play a big role in
disbelieving our own senses. Asch initiated his experiment by making one of the particpants at ease.
He asked a serious of elementary questions where the four ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
The participants seated themselves around a table, these confederates were not known to each other,
and most important concept of this experiment relied on the fact all of the participants were working
together, but for one. They took turns in a fixed order to call out publicly which of three comparison
lines was the same length as a standard line on the left card. In reality only one person was a naive
participant who answered second to last, the rest were experimental confederates instructed to give
erroneous responses. The results were intriguing as there were large individual differences or
variation in responses. However nonetheless what was evident was that 25 percent of participants
remained independent throughout the trials, another 50 percent conformed to the erroneous majority
in 6 or more trials and another 5 percent conformed on all 12 trials. Therefore the average
conformity rate was 33 percent. Asch used quantitative sampling method, which means that a
positivist would argue that quantitative data is more accurate because it is scientific. Positivist
approach will ensure that Asch experiments are reliable, and easily replicated by someone else and
deliver same results. Although he used up to 7 people, Quantitative Data includes statistics and
numbers to make his claim for high in reliability and

Solomon Asch Conformity Experiment
The Solomon Asch's Conformity Study is an experiment where a standard line is shown to an
audience along with three other lines: one will be longer, one will be shorter, one will be the exact
same line as the standard. The goal is to identify which is the same line– A, B, or C– and the answer
was always obvious. The task is simple, but a person will be the only real participant in the room
while the seven others are confederates who were pretending to be participants and who were trying
to use social pressure to get the participant to conform with the majority group. For example, if the
real answer was A, the confederates would try to throw off the real participant by saying the answer
is B. With the majority saying B is the correct answer, the real participant would agree with them,
even knowing the answer is wrong because everyone else didn't say A.
The experiment was tested on 50 male students from Swarthmore College, and on average, about
32% of the participants conformed to the incorrect answer with the majority. ... Show more content
In the control group, with no pressure to conform to confederates, less than 1% of participants gave
the wrong answer." (McLeod, S. A. 2008). An interview was later given, and everyone said they felt
like they gave the correct answer for all, fearing they would be the outsider even though they know
they gave the wrong answers. This revealed the power of a group where the odd one out would give
in and agree with the majority in order to fit in. However, this destroys a person's judgement. Asch's
response to the results was 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." (Solomon Asch conformity

Asch Conformity Report
Asch got 123 student volunteers to participate in wat they thought was a vision test but was actually
an experiment on conformity. All but one of the participants in each group was really a confederate
and the real purpose of the experiment was to see how the acual participant would react to the
behaviour of the confederates. The participant were seated around a table and were shown a line
along with three lines of varung lengths. They took it in turns to say which of the lines were the
same length as the first line with the real particiant answering second to last each time. On the
critical tirals (twelve of the 18 trails), the confederates all gave the same obviously wrong answer.
Asch wantedto find out if the participant would stick with

The Pros And Cons Of Conformity In Society
This article brings to light the opposite spectrum of what most society would not consider which is
toxic followers. Most times in society we always look to the leader and how they are toxic or
manipulative. We never consider who they are consulting or who they are looking to when it comes
to making those big decisions. Many times you can have the follower that tries to protect the leader
or the one who tries to lead the leader astray based off their own personal agenda. How can we as a
society make sure that not only the leaders are being ethical but, that the followers are acting in the
same ethical way? This article speaks on the issue of conformity vs. controversy, as a culture we
tend to go towards the former. A group of psychologists performed an experiment where participants
had to pick which line was most similar to the test line, now when the participants were alone they
picked the right line ninety–nine percent of the time. They decided to add a kink into the experiment
and make it into a group experiment. The psychologist Solomon Asch noticed this phenomena as
stated in the article, "Yet when other participants answered as part of a group in which fake
respondents had been coached to pick a particular incorrect line, almost three–quarters of the
unknowing participants made at least one wrong choice and one–third of them conformed to the
group choice half the time." Why is that as people we can be so easily influenced by strangers that
we will never see again?

The Special Education System Essays
Through my advocacy work, I have found that teachers are not providing students with disabilities
individualized attention as outlined in a student's Individual Education plan. Teachers continue to
follow instructions from administrators to place the burden of education on the student causing
students anxiety and frustrating despite knowing such treatment is wrong and inhumane. The
treatment often results in elevated high school dropout rates of students with disabilities.
It is hard to understand why a teacher may treat a student, who is obviously willing to learn, in such
a manner. The Asch Conformity Experiment is a good example; making it easier to understand the
behavior or a group of educators. In the experiment, a participant ... Show more content on
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Although the teacher provided the information, the family was asked not to bring up how he or she
came to the knowledge to any staff members or in a meeting with other staff persons present. The
teacher was fearful for the possible repercussions of going against what the group had decided were
an appropriate intervention for the student. The teacher informed the family that the entire team was
well versed on the student's lack of skills. Nevertheless, that the protocol in the building, handed
down by the administration was to first, blame the student, second, blame the parents, and finally
recommend the child be placed on medication before he or she could return to school. The education
team was instructed that if they chose not to conform their duties at the school would be promptly
terminated. The teachers conformed for fear of losing their jobs.
Although teachers are charged with the duty of educating young people, they are still human beings.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Cherry K., 2012) describes what could be a driving force behind
behavior that from an outside perspective would be seen as inappropriate at best. Most teachers are
college educated ; in Massachusetts, most districts require teachers to hold Master's Degree within
three years of employment. The logic

The Justification Of Nazi Officer 's Actions During World...
Everyone has been there before. You 're walking in public, whether it be in a school setting, a
workplace, or elsewhere, and you feel an overwhelming feeling of being watched and judged.
Whether it is your dabblings in romance, performance in sports events, clothing, or otherwise, we
feel the need to compare ourselves to and identify with the societal "norms" around us. It is better to
thrive as a sheep than to starve as a wolf, as the saying goes. This is what is known as conformity
and it has been with us from time immemorial.
In 1963, Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University investigated the conflict of
consciousness and morality, their clash with the desire to follow directions. Milgram wanted to
explore the justifications of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The control panel was adorned with 30 switches, labeled from 15 volts or a slight shock to 450
volts, which was labeled "XXX", implying a lethal dose of voltage. However, the voltage was
labeled incorrectly and inflated as to intimidate the subject. As the rooms were adjacent, the subject
could hear Milgram's colleagues cry out in agony when they were shocked, and the subject began to
start questioning the researcher about the condition of their "student" and asked, and eventually
demanded that they could leave. Each time, the researcher would provide a prod to continue forth. If
one prod was disobeyed, then the researcher would escalate to the next prod. The prods were "1.
Please continue.", 2. "The experiment requires that you continue.", 3. "It is absolutely essential that
you continue.", and 4. "You have no other choice than to continue."
After eighteen variations on the study, Milgram found that 65% of all participants continued to the
supposed 450 volts and all participants went to at least 300 volts. Milgram concluded that ordinary
people tend to follow an authority figure in a group, even to the torture and killing of a human
being, if the authority's actions seem to be rooted in correct morality and/or legality. In Psychology,
this is what as known as "prestige suggestion". After World War II, Milgram's overseer during

Obedience, Disobedience, And Disobedience
Obedience and Disobedience in People in Relation to "Holes" People choose how they react to
authority based on several things. These include; how they were raised, how much respect they have
for the authoritative power, and how that authority has treated someone. This is shown in the novel
"Holes" by Louis Sachar because the main character, Stanley, is sent to a child correction camp and
has to obey the upper authority Mr. Sir. He starts out being an obedient child and following all Mr.
Sir's rules but then as he begins to see the real reason he is told to dig holes in a barren desert he
rebels against Mr. Sir. These acts of obedience and disobedience are then analyzed and explained by;
"Milgram Experiment" by Saul McLead, "Opinions and ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The book Holes challenges this thought because even though the children, at one point or another,
have done something wrong that lead them to be there it does not mean they were doing it for the
wrong reasons or that they are bad people, they still have feelings and can learn to respect authority,
if that authority respects them. When Zero starts to tell Stanley that he was the one that stole the
shoes he says; ""We always took what we needed," Zero said. "When I was little, I didn 't even
know it was stealing. I don 't remember when I found out. But we just took what we needed, never
more" (Sachar 81). This quote shows how Zero was raised to disobey authority, but never knew it to
be wrong, and under all that emptiness there is an actual kid who is smart and brave. So according to
Brooks essay's theory the leaders should be nice and civil human beings, but they are not. Brooks
then goes on to state that "To have good leaders you have to have good followers" (594). This
thought is tested in "Holes" because while Mr. Sir and the Warden are corrupt leaders at camp Green
Lake they abuse their power and use fear to bend the children to their will, so have the children at
one point or another. This goes to show that what

Authors Erich Fromm, Saul Mcleod, Doris Lessing, Solomon Asch
From the time a child is born the principle of obedience is ingrained in them. They quickly learn to
follow authorities such as their parents, the law, and teachers. They understand that obedience is
rewarded and disobedience is punished. Children naturally act selfishly; if obedience benefits them,
they will comply. A child's obedience is easy to understand, but why do we find adults who
consistently yield to authority when it may bring harm to themselves or others? Why is obedience
such a fundamental part of our society, and what is the reason behind it? Authors Erich Fromm, Saul
McLeod, Doris Lessing, and Solomon Asch each discuss these ideas in their writings. Together we
will examine specific theories on the causes of obedience, as discussed by these authors.
We must fist begin by identifying the different types of obedience that humans experience on a daily
basis. Historian and psychologist, Erich Fromm defines these different areas in his essay
Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem.
Obedience to a person, institution, or power (heteronomous obedience) is submission; it implies the
... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, conducted an experiment focusing on the
conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. "He examined justifications for
acts of genocide offered by those accused at the World War II, Nuremberg War Criminal trials. Their
defense often was based on "obedience" – that they were just following orders from their superiors"
(McLeod, 584). Selecting participants based off of newspaper advertisements, where a single
participant would be taken into a room with a confederate of the experiment. The two would draw
lots, which were fixed, to determine who would be the "teacher" and who would be the "learner."
The participant would always be the

Authority In The Perils Of Obedience
Authority is seen as an essential part of society that is set into place to keep groups, nations, and
other organizations from a chaotic downfall. Although authority may seem to be a good asset to
society, some may argue that it can corrupt one's ethics. Several experiments on authority have
shown how it can play a role on an individual's character. The presence of an authority figure forces
power among individuals which can lead to unusual change in behavior to an extent that it changes
one's own moral values. Groups can influence people's perception and ideas even if they contradict
their own. Groups can act as an entity of authority, and for some people it is difficult to stand out or
think differently than their peers. "When we're in a ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
In The Perils of Obedience, the experiment was modified by having three subjects administering
the test. When two of the subjects refused to obey the experimenters instructions, thirty–six of the
forty subjects followed their peers and refused as well. (Milgram 659) Increasing the number of
subjects impacted the likeliness of disobedience to authority compared to conducting the experiment
with just one subject. Authority was less influential in a subject's decision when in a group because
the rebellious acts of others created awareness among the subjects about the situation they were in.
Doris Lessing states that people living in the West trapped in the concept of living in a free society.
Their mind is their own, their opinions are chosen by them and the only problem they have is
economical. " People in the West therefore may go through their entire lives never thinking to
analyze this very flattering picture, and as a result are helpless against all kinds of pressure on
them..." (Lessing 669). This concept that these individuals posses could be a factor in Milgram's
experiment. It could explain why many subjects were submissive to the authoritative pressure of the
experimenter's

The Sense Of Protection By Stanley Milgram Mentions
Many individuals in today's society are being influenced by outside attractions. Many are blindly
manipulated to an authority due to the sense of protection. The comfort of feeling protected gives
one the feeling of being part of the group and the feel of security. Authority; a model or leader who
creates rules to make individuals follow. People obey to authorities because of the fear of failing and
loneliness. It is a human nature to be afraid to be left out and experience solitary. In addition,
individuals are not willing to disobey because of the fear of punishment from an authority. This
forceful thought makes one to follow with no self– conscience, soon they will lose confidence. As
Stanley Milgram mentions, "Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one
can point to," (144). By shown in contempt society, people are prone to obey to a certain authority
due to the fear of punishment and being in solitary. This type of obedience eventually will lead one
to lose confidence, go against their own morals, and become irrational, which will be deleterious to
future society. People nowadays are prone to obedience because they are afraid to be isolated from
the community. Community is known as a group of people who truly have no fear in relying on each
other. People in a community usually share common goals and have a sense of belonging within the
group. In order to overcome the fear of being in solitary, one tends to obey to the authority in the

The Conformity And Group Pressure By Solomon Asch ( 1951 )...
Table of Contents Introduction 2 Literature Review 3 Method 6 Participants 6 Materials 6 Stimulus
6 Experimental Design 7 Procedure 8 Results 9 Table 9 Graphs 11 Discussion 14 Conclusion 15
Bibliography 16 Plagiarism Report 16 Appendix 17 Introduction In pyschology conformity can be
descibed as an indiviual's tendency to follow the unspoken rules or behaviours of the social group to
which he/she belongs to or wants to be apart of. Many psychologists including , Jenness (1932),
Sherif (1935) both experimented in psychology, investigating conformity and group pressure.
However, perhaps the most famous conformity experiment was done by Solomon Asch (1951) and
his line judgment experiment. (McLeod 2007) Solomon Asch was a psychologist that conduced
numerous expirments designed to illustrate the increasing conformity within social groups. The
experiments also invesigated the effect the number of people present within the group had one the
conformity rate. Asch hypothesized, " that the majority of the people would not conform to
something obviosly wrong; however, when surrounded by (other) individuals all voicing an
incorrect answer, 75% of them(the participant) will conform to the groups answer" (Watzlawick
1976) In the experiment solomon had two boards; one showing three lines of different lengths (
boardA) and another with one line( board B). The group of people were then asked which line on
board A looked similar to the one on board B.

Solomon Asch Response Paper
Solomon Asch proved that when a group of individual subjects were asked an apparent question, the
subjects would not answer incorrectly. However, in a situation where the subjects are placed with a
group of people, all of whom answered incorrectly, the individual subjects would follow along and
answer incorrectly. A single subject was placed with a group of people. The group of people are
aware of the experiment and give scripted responses. When given a visual task, the group responded
with an answer that was very obviously incorrect. When the subject was given an opportunity to
answer, the subject was able to provide the same answer that the group did, or provide the answer
that was correct. In these experiments, Asch found out that 32% of ... Show more content on
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The researcher sees their peers conforming to current fashions, hair styles, and behaviors daily in
school. This topic is worth studying because while the test being run demonstrates a harmless
example of conforming to what a group of people are doing, there are many crazes and issues that
adolescents and young adults choose to follow, regardless of if they are safe or intelligent choices
being made. Peer pressure is "influence from members of one's peer group". According to an article
written on peer pressure by a website called Parent Further, only 10% of teenagers that were
surveyed claimed to never have made choices that were guided by peer pressure. In that same group,
28% of the subjects reached an agreement with each other that giving in to peer pressure made their
social status stronger and nearly half of the subjects admitted to taking part in bullying someone
only after they witnessed a friend being a bully. Drug and alcohol

Influence of Stereotypes in To Kill a Mockingbird by...
Introduction Section One: Harper Lee's Life Section Two: Time Period Influences on Lee's Writing
Section Three: Influence of Stereotypes Section Four: To Kill a Mockingbird Reviews Conclusion
Works Cited Introduction Which doll is better? In the 1950s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie
Clark asked black children between three and seven to answer this simple, yet revealing question.
The kids were shown four dolls that were exactly the same except for their skin colors. Almost three
quarters of the children chose the white doll as being superior and attributed positive characteristics
to it. When asked why they picked it, they replied with, "Because it's white" (Abagond). Almost half
a century later, in 2005, Kiri Davis repeated the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
In both cases, the black males were found guilty because individuals did not think for themselves
and simply conformed to everyone else's stereotypical beliefs (Schmoop Harper Lee). As a child,
Lee was very much like her character Scout Finch. Lee was a tomboy; she would fight on the
playground, and talk back to teachers, just like Scout. When Scout attends her first day of school she
retorts back to her teacher to the point that her educator says, "Jean Louis, I've had about enough of
you this morning...You're starting off on the wrong foot in every way" (Lee 24). Lee would have
acted very similarly on her first day. After secondary school, Lee studied law at the University of
Alabama from 1945 to 1949, writing in the school's newspaper and humor magazine, the Rammer
Jammer. Lee soon realized that her passion was in writing and dropped out after the first semester.
Though she quit, the knowledge she gained from university about the legal system is displayed in
her novel (Big Read). Section Two: Time Period Influences on Lee's Writing During the mid–1900s,
prejudice and stereotypes were very prevalent, especially in a southern city like Alabama. Lee's
novel was published in 1960, right when the civil rights movement peaked. During this period of
fight, groups hoped to end racial segregation and inequality. Additionally, the Scottsboro case held
court in Alabama in 1931. The trial was about nine black males who were accused of raping two
white women. The males

Essay about Salomon Elliot Asch's Conformity Experiment
Conformity is when one would yield their own opinions or actions to appeal to those surrounding
them. Sometimes people may conform to match their environment without being aware of their
actions. Humans feel pressured in society to change their beliefs to fit in and not be the oddball one
out. This is seen in many different environments. For example, in schools if multiple people agree
with something, others would start to change their answers to match the group because they do not
want to feel rejected. When being the only participant in the experiment, one would feel weird,
hesitant, or intimidated to disagree with the group; however, if one were to have another participant
alongside them, they would feel a great amount of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
When the participant is alone, they react as they are supposed to in a fire, they evacuate rapidly,
some even left their belongings behind. When people are in a group of four or more confederates
that do not react to the smoke or even seem oblivious to it, the participants do not react to the smoke
like the confederates. Instead they react to the lack of reaction by staring at the confederates, waiting
for some sort of reassurance and when they do not receive anything, they continue to do their work.
This experiment is to test to see if participants would conform to the actions of the confederates. It is
a reenactment of the "Asch Line Conformity Experiment" where the participants will be challenged
to follow their intuition rather than follow the status quo. The hypothesis is that students taking part
in this study at BHSECQ would conform to the groups' answers and disregard their own.
Methods The experiment is disguised as a "visionary experiment." BHSECQ is the set location of
the study because it admits an abundant amount of students willing to participate in various studies.
Students were mostly selected at random. The students selected were willing students who were free
at the time. There was some variables taken into considerations like: age, and knowledge of the
experiment. The participants and confederates do not need

Similarities And Differences Between Conformity And Obedience
Conformity and obedience are some of the factors that usually influence the various processes that
determine the manner in which an individual behaves in a social set up. They also have an impact on
how people follow and adhere to social norms (both written and unwritten) as well as fashions and
their immoral actions (Milgram, 2010). Several aspects come to play when one is asked by another
individual to do a particular thing. First, they will need to consider whether whatever they are being
asked to do is morally right or wrong. Second, based on the circumstances, they can either obey or
comply and better still, they can decline to do it. The term obedience refers to the act of an
individual doing something that they have been asked to do. On the other hand, conformity regards
to how others influence people. They do things that they were not requested to do. The influence is
usually through the behaviors and thoughts of others. This paper will compare and contrast the
factors involved in conformity and obedience.
Similarities
First, in both conformity and obedience, the thoughts, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
First, an individual usually internalizes compliance, but this is not necessarily the case in obedience.
The latter can occur through internalization as well as through the existence of cognitive dissonance.
In other words, conformity is a form of social influence that emanates from within the individual
(Milgram, 2010). As it has been mentioned earlier, one does not have to be asked to do something
for them to do it in the case of conformity. It is a decision they make due to the external pressures
caused by group influence or the influence of another individual. Compliance is ethologically a
survival tactic whereby one is forced to do certain things to fit in the group as doing the contrary
will make them appear odd. This is not the case in

Solomon Asch Conformity Essay
1.1 In 1951, Solomon Asch's conformity experiment is now regarded as a classic experiment in
social psychology, where the participants would conform to the behaviour of others in an
unambiguous situation. Asch told naive participants were told they were participating in a simple
'vision test'. The original experiment was conducted with 123 American male participants. – Aim: To
investigate whether perceived group pressure by an incorrect majority can conform an individual in
an unambiguous experimental set–up. – Procedure: In a controlled lab setting, using a line judgment
task, Asch placed a naive participant in a room with 6 or 7 confederates who were advised to give
unanimous wrong answers within two white cards. The confederates had approved ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
Furthermore, there is a high degree of control ensuring that a cause–effect relationship can be
recognised between variables. However, the use of the laboratory experiment can be criticised for
producing results that lack in ecological validity. This is because the research took place in an
artificial and controlled environment which didn't produce results that would be reflective to other
real life situations of conformity. There are also issues regarding this study as the study was only
carried out with male students who all belonged to the same aged group as a result the sample was
gender bias and therefore the results cannot be generalised for females or older groups of people.
The study hence lacks population validity. In addition, there are ethical issues regarding the study as
the participants were deceived about the purpose of the experiment and it is possible that the
participants were exposed to embarrassing procedures when the real reason of the study was
revealed which could possibly put them through some form of emotional

Solomon Asch Experiment
1.I was not surprised by the result of solomon Asch's experiment, because I had realize in real life
people tend to go with the group and many people are like sheep that follow the group because they
doesn't want to be alone and standout. I had seen many of the video that did an experiment similar
like Solomon Asch's and many people in the experiment would tend to follow even though the
action might be odd or a little weird. If had been one of the subject I think I would stuck with my
answer and I would say the answer I believe is right, I think many people that change their mind just
because majority of people says the other is because they are scared to be wrong or be different.
2.The reason the subject in Asch experiment had for eventually

Solomon Asch Conformity Study
In 1951, Solomon Asch, a gestalt psychologist conducted an experiment regarding conformity. In
this experiment, Asch tested how an individual can be influenced by a group of people and their
views. Even though the test wasn't extremely crucial. The purpose was to measure how likely
individuals in this society are to conform to the majority. Throughout the experiment, Asch saw how
an individual responded based on the answers of the group. With this, he was able to demonstrate
how likely we are to conform when there is group pressure.
In this experiment, Asch conducted a lab to test the conformity of the participants. All fifty of the
participants were males and students from a college in the United States. To be able to identify the
percentage of individuals that could conform to the thoughts and ideas of the majority, Asch had to
deceive the participants. The experiment involved seven confederates, most of them had agreed on
what they were going to say before the experiment unlike the real participant. In each of the trials,
both the participants and the confederates were shown cards one would be a single line, while the
other was a card with a set of lines. The participants and the confederates were to pick a line that
looked like the single line on the other card. However, the participant would usually be the second to
last to answer. Asch ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
In this specific experiment, we can see how group pressure can affect our mental process and our
behavior. Knowing how our brain works can help us understand why we respond a certain way.
What the conformity experiment was trying to show was how likely an individual is to give into
society's ideals and beliefs, without questioning, out of fear of being ostracized or because they
believe that the group is better informed. With this experiment, we can understand the reason why
our behavior and mental processes can

Solomon Eliot Asch Research Paper
Solomon Eliot Asch
Parker Farley
PSY 200
Coach Ivey
April 6, 2015
Solomon Eliot Asch was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1907. He grew up early in his life in a small
town in Poland called Lowicz. He was born and raised as his parents were into a Jewish family. In
1920, Solomon at the young age of just 13 years old and his family emigrated to the United States of
America. They lived on the Lower East Side of New York City. The Lower East Side of New York
was a place that was dense of many Jewish, Irish, and Italian immigrants. When Solomon first
moved to the United States he did not speak English fluently. Therefore, Solomon had a hard time
adjusting to school, but he learned English by reading Charles Dickens. He went on to ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
Solomon would have a person come in off the streets not knowing the other 5 people were actors.
The only non–actor would be seated 4th in row side by side. Solomon would have 4 lines in front of
the room a little away from the table and ask which line matches the one on the far left. The actors
would answer correctly for the first couple of times and the non–actor would agree. However, when
the actors all say the wrong answer and it is the non–actors turn to answer he chose to answer along
with the group. If the non–actor said the opposite and gave what he thought was the correct answer
the entire group would stare at him in a way of saying, are you serious? Finally, the non–actor would
start agreeing with the others even if he knows it is not the correct answer. The non–actors said
afterwards that it did not matter if he was right or wrong so why cause problems in the group just by
going against

Psychology Experiment Essay examples
Title: An investigation into the impact of group pressure on an individual's estimate of the amount of
beads in a pot (ginger granules in a jar). IV = Group/Individual DV = Individual beads estimate
Abstract This experiment investigated the impact of group pressure on the individual. The
hypothesis is that group pressure does indeed impact on the individual and in this case the
individual's estimate of the number of ginger granules in a jar. Participants were asked to make a
judgement of the number of ginger granules in a jar, first individually and then as a group. The
individual participants were then interviewed again to see if their estimates had changed. The results
proved the hypothesis that group pressure does make an impact ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
It will be performed using a method similar to the one used by Jenness in his experiment. This will
in effect test the reproducibility and validity of the Jenness experiment. There are no contentious or
controversial issues surrounding this experiment and its method, and it is certainly within the law
i.e. there are no deceptions or misleading intentions toward the participant; it is fair. Hypothesis The
influence of group pressure will affect individuals' estimates of the number of ginger granules in a
glass jar. The estimate of the individual will change after a group decision to lie closer to the figure
of the group. Method The IV was the group or individual, and the DV was the number of ginger
granules in the glass jar. Two separate rooms were used; one for interview of the individual – one at
a time. When not being interviewed the individual was instructed to go the second room where the
rest of the group resided – for the period of the experiment. Both rooms contained only the subjects
of the experiment, and of course the experimenter, and no one else was permitted into the
aforementioned areas. Television, radio and other forms of communicative devices were forbidden
from these areas. The participants were three members of a family. The first was male and 67 years
of age. The second was female and 52 years old. The third member of the family was male, and 25
years old. Materials: * Jar of ginger granules * Watch * Sheets of paper

Power Of Conformity In Groups Was Concocted By Solomon Asch
The Asch Experiments were a series of studies that demonstrated the power of conformity in groups.
The Asch experiment was concocted by Solomon Asch and was a famous psychological experiment
that was designed to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could
affect a person to conform. The experiment also shows that one voice can make a difference
amongst others. The experiments were made up of "visions tests" where study participants were
found to be more likely to conform to obviously wrong answers if first given by other participants.
In the case study, the group was consists of all but one person that was working for Asch
(confederates) to test how the remaining student would react to their wrong answer.
During the experiment each participant was put into a group with 5 to 7 confederates. The
participant was then shown a card with a line on it which was then followed by another card with a
line on it labelled a,b,c. The participant was then asked to state which of the lines matched in length
to the other card. The participant would answer next to last. In the beginning of the experiment (the
first two trails) the subject would feel calm, as he and the others gave the correct answer. Once the
first two trails were over all the confederates would give the wrong answer to the task. The hope was
to prove whether the real participant would conform to the wrong answer ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
He was mistaken when figuring out the results for the experiment. The results to the participants
were interesting; 24% of the participants did not conform on any trail, 75% conformed at least once,
5% conformed every time, and when the confederates provided an incorrect answer the participants
provided incorrect answers participants conformed 32% of the time. Overall, the equipment
concluded that there was a conformity rate of 37%. This concluded that peer pressure can cause

Solomon Asch Conformity
Social Scientist
The social scientist that I have decided to base my ISU on is Solomon Asch, a psychologist.
Date and Place of Birth/Death Solomon Asch was born on September 14, 1907 at Warsaw, Congress
Poland. He died on February 20, 1996 (aged 88) at Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States.
Life and Education Solomon Asch was born to a Jewish family and lived in a small town called
Lowicz, Poland. In 1920, Asch moved with his family to the United States. They lived in New York,
specifically in an area where there were many Jewish, Italian, and Irish immigrants. He did not
speak English fluently. He went to the nearest public school, P.S. 147, to attend 6th grade. He
learned English by reading Charles Dickens. He went to Townsend ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
He was criticized for using only male students all in the same age group. This meant that the results
cannot be applied to females or younger or older groups of people. Some critics thought that the
levels of conformity in Asch's experiment were only because of 1950s American culture. In the
1950s, America was hunting communist spies and conformity to American values was expected.
Why is Solomon Asch influential or famous? Asch is influential because of his conformity
experiments, mostly. His experiments has made significant contributions to social psychology and
has worked with other psychologists like Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Hans Wallach, and
Gardner Murphy. He has also influenced Stanley Milgram with his experiments.
Theories/Goals/Works Asch has three main theories. His impression formation theory, his prestige
suggestion theory, and his conformity theory are his theories. His impression formation theory states
that forming an impression has the following characteristics: it is an organized process, people
determine the main qualities of a person, and that people make differences between the main
qualities and less important

Example Of A Reference Group Essay
. One of my reference groups would be my teachers in the past throughout my k–12 grade years and
my professors now. I want to be successful one day so I work as hard as I possibly can in all of my
classes to succeed. My teachers have made such a positive influence on me because they just give us
their experiences that are good or bad and make sure we don't make the same mistakes as them so
we can succeed. Some students won't care but I do because I want to be successful. So, all of the
techniques I was taught to get an A in the classroom have all been helpful and help me now in trying
to achieve my career. All of the advice and techniques I was given from my teachers and professors
are applied to my daily struggles I face now while doing ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
However, this experiment was all fake, the learner was also a person who knew what was going on
just like how it was for the Asch Conformity, there were no real shocks they just gave fake screams
to make it seem like it was real! The whole point was to test if the teacher would follow the
directions and go all the way to 450 volts. Some people actually gave up because they couldn't live
with hurting an innocent person and some people went all the way to 450 volts. I remember
watching this experiment in one of my high school classes I am still just as shocked as I was while
watching the video. 3. Donald Trump has been claiming that the crime rates in the United States
have been skyrocketing, while reading the "Crime 'Carnage'" section in the article he never really
discusses the crime rates overall, during his inauguration speech he only discusses the crime rates
that have happened in the past year. According to the article, the "FBI data shows that the violent
crime rate has been on a "decline" since 1991 when it increased up to 758.2 but it was only half of
that in 2015 with a rate of 372.6". The murder rates also increased, increased by 14% according to
the analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice but only

Solomon Asch : The Power Of Conformity
Solomon Asch set out to study social influences and how social forces affect a person's opinions and
attitudes when he began his conformity study in the 1950s. After studying the works of Jean Martin
Charcot, and subsequent psychologists, Asch noted that participants in these past studies often
changed their differing opinions to those of the majorities, when confronted with opposing views.
The conformity study that he designed tests whether or not one can change someone's judgment of a
situation without changing their knowledge or assumptions about the situation. The purpose of the
Asch experiment was to demonstrate the power of conformity in groups. Experiments led by
Solomon Asch of Swarthmore College asked groups of students to participate in a "vision test". In
reality, all but one of the participants were confederates or accomplices of the experimenter, and the
study was really about how the remaining students would react to the confederates' behavior.
Conformity, group size, and cohesiveness. Asch found that one of the situational factors that
influence conformity is the size of the opposing majority. In a series of studies, he varied the number
of confederates who gave incorrect answers from 1 to 15. In the basic Asch theory, the participants –
the real subjects and the confederates – were all seated in a classroom. They were asked a variety of
questions about a set of lines – a reference line and a set of three lines A, B and C – such as how
long is A, compare the

Solomon Asch On Conformity
experiment three years prior; a group norm is usually adopted in unfamiliar or unclear situation,
because opinions and facts are formed from the information available (informational conformity).
Solomon Asch conducted one of the most famous studies of conformity in 1951. The problem, he
believed, was there was no correct answer to Sherif's experiment; so judging conformity was vague
in terms of data (Asch 1951). In answer to this issue, he devised a study to distinctively judge the
conformation of the participants. Using 50 male college students, Asch placed one participant with
seven confederates, who had previously agreed on their answers, and asked each person to state
which line out of three options was the closest to the sample line given.

Social Psychology: Why Do We Interact The Way We Do?
Why do we humans interact the way that we do? Why do we act a certain way in one situation, but
differently in another? Why are some capable of committing heinous crimes while others are not?
These questions can only be answered by social psychology. According to Science Daily, social
psychology is defined as the study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced
by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. The psychology of social interactions has
explained various situations as to why we humans interact the way that we do. From the Holocaust
to today's politics, social psychology has not only played a part in major world events, but in our
everyday lives. Furthermore, three psychologists conducted three experiments ... Show more content
Professor Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment to figure out whether the brutal tendencies of
prison guards were due to their personalities, or simply their environment. In this experiment,
Zimbardo converted the SU basement into a replica of a prison. Following this, he advertised the
experiment asking for students to participates in the "prisoner and guard" scenario. About 75
students responded to the ad, and were tested and interviewed in order to checked for psychological
disorders or any other disorder which would interfere with the experiment and its results. Out of the
75, 25 students were chosen to participate and were each given $15 a day for their troubles. They
were then randomly assigned to one of two roles: prisoner or prison guard. The prisoners and guards
were all in groups of three; prisoners in the "cells", and the prison guards doing their jobs as guards.
The prison experience was intended to be as real as possible, prisoners were treated as such. They
were arrested, fingerprinted, stripped, and blindfolded. Their personal possessions were confiscated,
they were to wear uniforms, and they were referred to by their "ID numbers". As for the guards, they
were all dressed in khaki uniforms, they carried a whistle and a billy club. They were to wear
sunglasses to prevent eye contact with the prisoners and were instructed to do whatever

Disobedience And Conformity In John Hughes's The Breakfast...
Being stereotyped and having a label put on you by your family's history or your behavior, can bring
either obedience or even worse, disobedience, not caring if it was the authority or the less fortunate.
In John Hughes film The Breakfast club (1985) consists of five students, going from obedient with
brains, to a disobedient rebellious kid. While Benders actions and past was given a label of a
criminal, Brian was labeled as the brains in the group, due to his action in academics and being
obedient. Could we say Benders and Brian's action were to impress his friends/family or to just
follow the crowd ? or was it really their actions they wanted to take?
The Asch Experiment (1951) gave us a inside scoop of how someone will agree to the group to feel
conformity and not feeling as if he/she was incorrect to do so. While Brian was opening up to his
near–suicide–attempt, bringing out another side of his character, a more dark and troubling way
same as Bender. They all spoke out as a group to feel comfort , and not be the odd one out not
opening to one another. Beginning of The Breakfast Club came in 5 student, all who disobeyed
authority one way or another. Being either bringing a gun to school, bullying or simply not
following authority, they were all sent to Saturday detention. There is , the obvious, the brains and of
course the criminal. Being Brian the brains and John Bender the criminal, while one was the smart
obedient kid, and the other the , "no good know it all

Peer Pressure
Peer pressure
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peer pressure is influence that a peer group, observers or individual exerts that encourages others to
change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform the group norms. Social groups affected
include membership groups, in which individuals are "formally" members (such as political parties
and trade unions), or social cliques in which membership is not clearly defined. A person affected by
peer pressure may or may not want to belong to these groups. They may also recognize dissociative
groups with which they would not wish to associate, and thus they behave adversely concerning that
group's behaviors.[citation needed]
Contents [hide]
1 In Youth
2 Asch conformity
3 The Third ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Jones, unable to explain to his students how the German populace could claim ignorance of the
extermination of the Jewish people, decided to show them instead. Jones started a movement called
"The Third Wave" and convinced his students that the movement is to eliminate democracy. The fact
that democracy emphasizes individuality was considered as a drawback of democracy, and Jones
emphasized this main point of the movement in its motto: "Strength through discipline, strength
through community, strength through action, strength through pride". The Third Wave experiment is
an example of risk behavior in authoritarian peer pressure situations.[10][11]
It is one useful tool in leadership. Instead of direct delegation of tasks and results demanding,
employees are in this case, induced into a behaviour of self–propelled performance and innovation,
by comparison feelings towards their peers. There are several ways peer pressure can be induced in
a working environment. Examples include training and team meetings. In training, the team member
is in contact with people with comparable roles in other organizations. In team meetings, there is an
implicit comparison between every team member, especially if the meeting agenda is to present
results and goal status.[12]
Neural mechanisms[edit]
Neuroimaging identifies the anterior insula and anterior cingulate as key areas in the brain

Social Criticism In Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell
George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" portrays demanding situations as the leading cause of
people desperately attempting, disregarding what is right or wrong, to save their egos from social
criticism. More specifically, by saying that he was "an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will
of those yellow faces behind," Orwell argues that his actions felt predetermined by the will of the
Burmese and that, just as he had done, humanity's fear of defying expected social roles causes
people to contradict socially conscious behavior, leading to a variety of negative consequences,
many of them being inhumane. Although there are minor cases in which people exert their free will
and act of their own accord regardless of pressure they are under, ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
With the fear of being different from the group, subjects within Asch's experiment would lie about
which lines they believe are the same height. They self–doubt themselves and find that no other
option is valid. 75% of participants, when observing the group's answers, heeded to their consensus
and gave the wrong answer. Asch's experiment revealed people's motivation in group circumstances
to be driven by a need for conformity and a fear of going against popular opinion. Just as it was
within Milgram's experiment, there were outliers who refused to comply, but in Asch's experiment
the people who defied the group intimidation did so when there were one or two other contestants
who did not conform, showing that people are less likely to go against their beliefs if they see other
people expressing themselves. This is to say that group collectivism is exemplified when there is
only one person against a large population and that a group holds enough power to manipulate a
single individual. This is crucial in examining that, if a person holds enough fear of being different,
they can go to any lengths, in spite of what is righteous, to fit in and this is problematic if there were
anyone to take advantage of this fear, just as it has been done in cases such as

Dangers of Authority and Social Pressures Essay
Hitler and Mussolini were both individuals that used social influences throughout history . Each of
these evil villains used authority and social pressure to persuade and manipulate people into
performing acts that they wouldn't normally do . Hitler and Mussolini legitimized their authority
through immoral actions and fear and abused their authority. This is important because authority and
social pressures are one of the most dangerous combinations there are. The use of these two socially
accepted tools have resulted in the deaths of more people, and lead to atrocities such as more
genocides than any other social force. . In the 1950s a psychologist Solomon Asch at Rutgers
University decided to test group and individuals against in ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
When the engagers were in fronted by their actions they passed the blame to their superiors
Solomon Asch`s "opinions and Social Pressure" studied white college males from a ivy league
school. Ash conducted two experiments, the first was a "Physiological experiment" which was
visual group test the other was a two partner question test. When the participant new they were right
they conformed to the majority of the group, forgetting about their own morals and values. Asch
found the same results from both test. Asch stated that "[w]hen consensus comes under the
dominance of conformity, the social process is polluted and the individual at the same time
surrenders the powers on which his functioning as a feeling and thinking being depends"(357). In
"Perils in Obedience," Stanley Milgram studied social forces and obedience. Milgram does this by
having subjects think they are shocking individuals in a chair for getting wrong answers to questions
asked by the subjects. The results showed the participants conformed to the authority of the
researchers by going against their own morals and values. Milgram stated that "[t]hey suspected that
only 4 percent would reach 300 volts, and that only a pathological fringe of about one in a thousand
would administer the highest shock on the board"(362). He never thought that 60 percent of the
subjects would have administered that high of a shock. Milgram connected his results to Nazi
Germany and stated that:

Collectivism Dangers
As a species, humans naturally tend to be in and want to be in groups. What started off a survival
instinct has become a fundamental aspect of society today. Today, people are drawn to groups
because of the acceptance and care that can be found within them. However, groups can quickly turn
dangerous when the people within it use the need to feel accepted to manipulate a person into
following their ideas instead of the person's own. When people give the group priority over
themselves, it is called collectivism. Collectivism is dangerous because of its ability to eliminate
individual thought and create an opportunity in which a person could be manipulated to go against
their morals and harm others. One of the dangers of collectivism is its ability to suffocate an
individual's ideas in order for the ideas of the rest of group to survive. In the early 1950s, Solomon
E. Asch conducted a series of experiments to test the effect of peer pressure on the individual. A
group of young men was gathered and everyone except for the individual being tested was told to
give the wrong answer. The individual was asked to match the length of two lines, but under peer
pressure "even when the difference between the lines was seven inches, there were still some who
yielded to the error of the majority" (Asch 730). Despite knowing that the answer the group gave
was wrong, the individual still said the wrong answer. He does this because while he knows that
group answer is wrong, he also

Hypothesis On Conformity

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