Solomon Asch conducted a famous experiment in which he demonstrated that people's judgments are heavily influenced by the judgments of others.
The Solomon Asch experiments were designed to interpret the power of conformity and social influence. The experiment was set up with confederates and the true test subject answering non subjective questions in series. As the experiment advanced, the confederates, gave a mixture of pre-arranged answers that were meant to influence the true subject.
The ecological validity of Asch's study has been questioned. It was a very artificial and trivial set up, and so it would be difficult generalising this to the real world. This has been countered by Asch, who said he made sure the test was heavily controlled for a reason. He contends that the strict scientific nature of the study is useful, as it tests raw conformity and doesn't allow for any other variables to factor in.
Conformity
The experiments Asch conducted showed that the majority of candidates conformed. Some insisted that they didn't realize they were conforming. It shows that if you conform to group pressure, you don't stand out, and just becoming one of them can easily cause you to fall into a trap of being wrong.
Solomon Asch conducted this classic experiment.
Solomon Asch was born on 1907-09-14.
Solomon Asch died on 1996-02-20.
Because of group pressure, most people are willing to say things they know are not true.
Caused conformity rates to go DOWN
Solomon Asch.
Solomon Asch.
When one of the confederates didn't agree :)
He was married to Florence.
The Solomon Asch experiments were designed to interpret the power of conformity and social influence. The experiment was set up with confederates and the true test subject answering non subjective questions in series. As the experiment advanced, the confederates, gave a mixture of pre-arranged answers that were meant to influence the true subject.
The variables in Solomon Asch's Conformity Experiment were the presence of a unanimous majority opinion, the size of the majority group, and the difficulty of the task. These variables were manipulated to see their effect on the participants' likelihood to conform.
The ecological validity of Asch's study has been questioned. It was a very artificial and trivial set up, and so it would be difficult generalising this to the real world. This has been countered by Asch, who said he made sure the test was heavily controlled for a reason. He contends that the strict scientific nature of the study is useful, as it tests raw conformity and doesn't allow for any other variables to factor in.
Conformity