Solomon E. Asch was born in Poland. He died at the age of 88 in Pennsylvania. He became famous during 50’s for his experiments about how social pressures lead to conformity. In his study about conformity, Asch experiments included recording participants reactions to various questions.. Asch would initially tell them (participants) that they are taking a visual perception test. He would ask them to identify whether line A, B or C was closest in length to line X. He made sure that it was easy to find the answer.
In the second leg of the experiment, Asch asked actors sitting in a classroom with the actual study participants. The study participants had no idea that the others in the room were actors. The study actors were told by the Asch to purposefully pick the wrong answer. Asch found that participants get the answer about 2 in every 3 trials. 75% of the people missed at least one to go along with the group. “Asch’s method of research would demonstrate how an individual can easily receive influence in straying from the independent opinion toward the conformist opinion. Asch’s approach is most successful in demonstrating the abandonment of independent opinion and acceptance of a majority opinion”. (Carley, Steven G. 2013)
In my opinion when the individual lets themselves be influenced by others it is because they need the recognition from others, it’s means, they are not confident enough to believe that what they think is right. Biological factors, past experiences, traumas, and culture, powerfully shape the behavior and increase the insecurity that some people have when they need to give their opinion or when they are put in situations that they feel is a challenge. Studying about Asch’s experiment, I realize how this is relevant in today’s society. In this experiment, the participants were under pressure. In my opinion is not necessary to put an individual under pressure for he/she make choices base on what the majority of a group think or to follow behaviors of the social groups.
In lots of situations , like work place or in schools, most individuals change their behavior and attitude to just fit in. “In recounting that experiment, Dr. Asch told colleagues that the idea for it had grown out of his early childhood in Poland. As a boy of 7, he stayed up late for his first Passover night. He saw his grandmother pour an extra glass of wine and asked whom it was for. For the prophet Elijah, an uncle told him. “Will he really take a sip?” the boy asked. “OH, yes,” the uncle replied. “You just watch when the time comes.” Filled with the sense of suggestion and expectation, the boy thought he saw the level of wine in the cup drop just a bit” (NYT 1996).
I believe that social media is a good example of how the theory of conformity works. “The percentage of US adults who use social media increased from 5% in 2005 to 79% in 2019. Even on a global stage the speed of diffusion is striking Facebook surged from covering around 1.5% of the world population in 2008, to around 30% in 2018” (Our World in data 2019). Nowadays social media has become a very powerful tool. Most people on social media agree with something because everyone around is doing the same. At times, it does not matter if the information is false or true. That is why it is said that people are what they eat and what they read.
It is much easier to conform than to disagree and have an independent opinion. This is because sometimes its just impossible to break certain viewpoints and conforming and following certain norms feels like a quick way of being accepted. “Neuroscientists soon started studying the brains of subjects conforming in such a way. The discovery that everyone disagrees with you turns out to typically activate the amygdala and the insular cortex, brain regions associated with anxiety, disgust, and unease. It can also activate regions associated with reinforcement learning and error correction.” (The Wall Street Journal 2017).
Scientists identified two types of conformity, public and private. It means, when the individual changed their true opinion merely to be agreeable and when they are in their “comfort zone” they revert to their original opinion. “Public and private conformity are quite different neurobiological processes, and we don’t know which variety most propels people to rally around untruths. But both options raise a similar Orwellian specter: that we can come to believe that war is peace, that freedom is slavery and that it definitely was Option B.” (The Wall Street Journal 2017).
Overall, according to Ash’s theory four factors influence how and when people confirm. Conformity tends to increase when the number of people is bigger, example, five or more. Also it increases when the task becomes more difficult and when one of the members of the group is of a high social status. However, when the person expresses themselves privately, she/he usually don’t to change their behavior or thoughts. We follow others as per the environment. The perspective and approach define what is good or no in each situation.
