Asch conformity experiments

One of the pairs of cards used in the experiment. The card on the left has the reference line and the one on the right shows the three comparison lines.

The Asch conformity experiments

which were published in 1953, were a series of studies that starkly demonstrated the power of conformity in groups. These are also known as the "Asch Paradigm".

One of the pairs of cards used in the experiment. The card on the left has the reference line and the one on the right shows the three comparison lines.
One of the pairs of cards used in the experiment. The card on the left has the reference line and the one on the right shows the three comparison lines.

Experiments led by Solomon Asch asked groups of students to participate in a "vision test." In reality, all but one of the participants were confederates of the experimenter, and the study was really about how the remaining student would react to the confederates' behavior.

The participants — the real subject and the confederates — were all seated in a classroom where they were told to announce out loud their judgment of the length of several lines drawn on a series of displays. They were asked which line was longer than the other, which were the same length, etc. The confederates had been prearranged to all give an incorrect answer to the tests.

While most subjects answered correctly, many showed extreme discomfort, and a high proportion (32%) conformed to the erroneous majority view of the others in the room when there were at least three confederates present, even when the majority said that two lines different in length by several inches were the same length. When the confederates were not unanimous in their judgment, subjects were much more likely to defect than when the confederates all agreed. Control subjects with no exposure to a majority view had no trouble giving the correct answer.

Of course people can make mistakes. While one reads and participates what value would you give someone who was critical? Offer their perspective freely, so that we can judge for our self.( Help the patient help themself) Whether or not, something is fruitful in regard to research and moving a subject to a new plateau for new perspectives to be developed?

Conformity can have it's affects, just as some can "belong to something" by saying what may like to be heard. Build accordingly to the order of things, while being lead while sleeping, have faintly agreed to complacency. Challenge them, and yourself to understand.