40 Studies (The Power of Conformity)

Significance/Criticism

One major significance of this study is that the real power of social pressure to conform was clearly demonstrated for the first time.

One major criticism of this study is that the study done inside the lab cannot really demonstrate how people would conform in a real life situation because choosing the wrong line really has no effect on their life or anything for that matter.

Further Research/Application

Summary

Solomon Asch's study was incorporated in a study conducted by Mansfield in 2003 on why men are less likely than women to seek help even when they are in dire need of it.

The subjects were given a card with three lines of different lengths and a different card with a single line that matched one of the three on the other card. Approximately 75% of the people tested agreed with the obvious wrong answer at least once. For all of the trials combined, the participants agreed with the wrong answer about one third of the time. Also, just to be completely sure that the length of the lines were easily distinguishable, there was a control group that wrote down their answers. These participants answered correctly 98% of the time.

The Question

Learning

The reasons Asch carried out the study were to scientifically study human behavior and specifically conformity (yielding to group pressure)

This study conducted by Asch has taught me that if a group of people are asked what they think on any given topic, often times their answer would not truly reflect what they really believe.

The Power of COnformity

Solomon Asch