Do you ever just sit and wonder what other people are thinking or why people do what they do? These questions are two of the main reasons that I am interested in psychology. It’s just so interesting to learn about and the experiments are the best part to me, personally.
Today’s experiment is going to be one of the more popular ones. I’m pretty sure you have heard of this one even if you’re not interested in psychology! This experiment is called Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment.
This experiment had to do with investigating peer pressure. To what extent are we going to conform when we are among a bigger group? Even if we know we are right, do we still conform to a wrong answer just because the majority agrees to it? These are some of the questions that were being answered.
We have all been in a situation where we are forced to choose between doing the right thing, or the wrong thing. Other peers among you such as your friends and family usually influence your decision. In this case, it was complete strangers.
This experiment was held in the 1950s. There were eight subjects in the study and they were asked to sit around a table. One person out of the eight had no idea what was going on. The rest of the subjects were confederates, and were already instructed to give a different response. They were asked different types of simple questions such as which line best matched a specific line. When they were asked to answer, all of the confederates picked the line that clearly did not match. Although that one subjects was confused, studies show they chose the wrong answer just because everyone else did. This just goes to show how peer pressure can make you second guess yourself even when you know that you are right.
Even though this experiment was held in the 1950s, it can still apply to life today. Peer pressure happens everywhere. It doesn’t even have to be in the most extreme forms, but just simple stuff. Even if all your friends want to go out to eat, but you want to go the movies. You end up going out to eat because it’s what the rest of your friends say, this is a more simplistic version of conformity. You are conforming to what everyone else wants to do.
You can’t tell me that wasn’t interesting! It is just amazing to see experiments that were done so long ago still being applied to our life over 60 years later, that is crazy. It’s like we’re constantly learning which is another reason that I love psychology!
I also am interested in some studies that are conducted in the psychology field. One of my favorite studies is the Stanford Prison experiment. I had never heard of this study ebfore, but it seems like an experiment that I would like to research more in depth. You did a great job explaining it though! The layout of the site is well organized and makes it easy to read.