Saturday, February 7, 2009
Group conformity
When in a group why is it that individuals don't think separately, but rather as a whole? For example, if there is a class discussion and a controversial question is asked, most people would answer the question based on what the others in the class have answered even if they don't agree with it. Most psychologist believe that group conformity occurs because human beings are very social, and they want to 'fit in' with others. A psychological experiment known as Asch's experiment is demonstrated in the video below. In Asch's experiment five males are chosen to be participants in a test. Four of the five participants are actually actors and they were told ahead of time to choose the incorrect answer. Because there is one actual real participant the experiment is to see whether he chooses the obvious right answer or if he sticks with the groups wrong answer.
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I cant help but wonder if he is really just conforming to the group or if he thinks he must be seeing it wrong. If everybody agrees on one thing in such a simple task would you not think that your mind must be playing tricks on you? You can see by the look in his face that he is really confused by everyone else's response and even does an almost double take at what he is looking at. Maybe he is thinking he must be wrong and is more lacking the confidence in what he sees.
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