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Asch - 1955 - Opinions and Social Pressure
Asch - 1955 - Opinions and Social Pressure
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SCIENTIFIC
NOVEMBER, 1955
AMERICAN VOL. 193, NO. 5
by Solomon E. Aseh
hat social influences shape every has also brought into existence the de nosis was but an extreme form of a
EXPERIMENT IS REPEATED in the Laboratory of Social Rela· on the next page). Six of the subjects have been coached before
tions at Harvard University. Seven student subjects are asked by the hand to give unanimously wrong answers. The seventh (sixth from
experimenter (right) to compare the length of lines (see diagram the left) has merely been told that it is an experiment in perception.
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essentially adaptations of the suggestion pIe submit uncritically and painlessly to Then a second set of cards is exposed;
demonstration. The technique generally external manipulation by suggestion or again the group is unanimous. The mem
followed a simple plan. The subjects, prestige, and that any given idea or value bers appear ready to endure politely an
usually college students, were asked to can be "sold" or "unsold" without refer other boring experiment. On the third
give their opinions or preferences con ence to its merits. We should be skepti trial there is an unexpected disturbance.
cerning various matters; some time later cal, however, of the supposition that the One person near the end of the group
they were again asked to state their power of social pressure necessarily im disagrees with all the others in his selec
choices, but now they were also in plies uncritical submission to it: inde tion of the matching line. He looks sur
formed of the opinions held by authori pendence and the capacity to rise above prised, indeed incredulous, about the
ties or large groups of their peers on the group passion are also open to human disagreement. On the following trial he
same matters. (Often the alleged con beings. Further, one may question on disagrees again, while the others remain
sensus was fictitious.) Most of these psychological grounds whether it is pos unanimous in their choice. The dissenter
studies had substantially the same result: sible as a rule to change a person's judg becomes more and more worried and
confronted with opinions contrary to ment of a situation or an object without hesitant as the disagreement continues in
their own, many subjects apparently first changing his knowledge or assump succeeding trials; he may pause before
shifted their judgments in the direction tions about it. announcing his answer and speak in a
of the views of the majorities or the ex low voice, or he may smile in an em
perts. The late psychologist Edward L. n what follows I shall describe some barrassed way.
Thorndike reported that he had suc I experiments in an investigation of the \Vhat the dissenter does not know is
ceeded in modifying the esthetic prefer effects of group pressure which was car that all the other members of the group
ences of adults by this procedure. Other ried out recently with the help of a num were instructed by the experimenter
psychologists reported that people's ber of my associates. The tests not only beforehand to give incorrect answers in
evaluations of the merit of a literary demonstrate the operations of group unanimity at certain points. The single
passage could be raised or lowered by pressure upon individuals but also illus individual who is not a party to this pre
ascribing the passage to different au trate a new kind of attack on the prob arrangement is the focal subject of our
thors. Apparently the sheer weight of lem and some of the more subtle ques experiment. He is placed in a position in
numbers or authority sufficed to change tions that it raises. which, while he is actually giving the
opinions, even when no arguments for A group of seven to nine young men, correct answers, he finds himself unex
the opinions themselves were provided. all college students, are assembled in a pectedly in a minority of one, opposed
Now the very ease of success in these classroom for a "psychological experi by a unanimous and arbitrary majority
experiments arouses suspicion. Did the ment" in visual judgment. The experi with respect to a clear and simple fact.
subjects actually change their opinions, menter informs them that they will be Upon him we have brought to bear two
or were the experimental victories scored comparing the lengths of lines. He shows opposed forces: the evidence of his
only on paper? On grounds of common two large white cards. On one is a single senses and the unanimous opinion of a
sense, one must question whether vertical black line-the standard whose group of his peers. Also, he must declare
opinions are generally as watery as these length is to be matched. On the other his judgments in public, before a major
studies indicate. There is some reason to card are three vertical lines of various ity which has also stated its position
wonder whether it was not the investiga lengths. The subjects are to choose the publicly.
tors who, in their enthusiasm for a one that is of the same length as the line The instructed majority occaSionally
theory, were suggestible, and whether on the other card. One of the three reports correctly in order to reduce the
the ostensibly gullible subjects were not actually is of the same length; the other possibility that the naive subject will sus
providing answers which they thought two are substantially different, the differ pect collusion against him. (In only a
good subjects were expected to give. ence ranging from three quarters of an few cases did the subject actually show
The investigations were guided by cer inch to an inch and three quarters. suspicion; when this happened, the ex
tain underlying assumptions, which to The experiment opens uneventfully. periment was stopped and the results
day are common currency and account The subjects announce their answers in were not counted.) There are 18 trials
for much that is thought and said about the order in which they have been seated in each series, and on 12 of these the
the operations of propaganda and public in the room, and on the first round every majority responds erroneously.
opinion. The assumptions are that peo- person chooses the same matching line. How do people respond to group pres
sure in this situation? I shall report first
the statistical results of a series in which
a total of 123 subjects from three institu
tions of higher learning (folOt including
my own, Swarthmore College) were
placed in the minority situation de
scribed above.
Two alternatives were open to the
subject: he could act independently, re
pudiating the majority, or he could go
along with the majority, repudiating the
evidence of his senses. Of the 123 put to
2 the test, a considerable percentage
yielded to the majority. Whereas in ordi
SUBJECTS WERE SHOWN two cards. One bore a standard line. The other bore three lines, nary circumstances individuals matching
one of which was the same length as the standard. The subjects were asked to choose this line. the lines will make mistakes less than 1
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per cent of the time, under group pres
sure the minority subjects swung to ac
ceptance of the misleading majority's
wrong judgments in 36.8 per cent of the
selections.
Of course individuals differed in re
sponse. At one extreme, about one quar
ter of the subjects were completely in
dependent and never agreed with the
erroneous judgments of the majority. At
the other extreme, some individuals went
with the majority nearly all the time. The
performances of individuals in this ex
periment tend to be highly consistent.
Those who strike out on the path of in
dependence do not, as a rule, succumb
to the majority even over an extended
series of trials, while those who choose
the path of compliance are unable to free
themselves as the ordeal is prolonged.
The reasons for the startling individu
al differences have not yet been investi
gated in detail. At this point we can
only report some tentative generaliza
tions from talks with the subjects, each
of whom was interviewed at the end of
the experiment. Among the independent
individuals were many who held fast be
cause of staunch confidence in their own
judgment. The most significant fact
about them was not absence of re
sponsiveness to the majority but a ca
pacity to recover from doubt and to re
establish their equilibrium. Others who
acted independently came to believe
that the majority was correct in its an
swers, but they continued their dissent
on the simple ground that it was their
obligation to call the play as they saw it.
Among the extremely yielding persons
we found a group who quickly reached
the conclusion: "I am wrong, they are
right." Others yielded in order "not to
spoil your results." Many of the in
dividuals who went along suspected that
the majority were "sheep" following the
first responder, or that the majority were
victims of an optical illusion; neverthe
less, these suspicions failed to free them
at the moment of decision. More dis
quieting were the reactions of subjects
who construed their difference from the
majority as a sign of some general
deficiency in themselves, which at all
costs they must hide. On this basis they
desperately tried to merge with the ma
jority, not realizing the longer-range
consequences to themselves. All the
yielding subjects underestimated the
frequency with which they conformed.
EXPERIMENT PROCEEDS as follows. In the top picture the snbject (center) hears rules
of experiment for the first time. In the second picture he makes his first judgment of a pair of
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question. In one series the size of the op are moderate, rathei than flagrant. In was almost invariably independent, but
position was varied from one to 15 per short, the dissenter largely controls the as soon as he found himself alone, the
sons. The results showed a clear trend. choice of errors. To this extent the sub tendency to conform to the majority rose
When a subject was confronted with jects broke away from the majority even abruptly.
only a single individual who contra while bending to it. As might be expected, an individual's
dicted his answers, he was swayed little: On the other hand, when the dissenter resistance to group pressure in these ex
he continued to answer independently always chose the line that was more fla periments depends to a considerable de
and correctly in nearly all trials. When grantly different from the standard, the gree on how wrong the majority is. We
the opposition was increased to two, the results were of quite a different kind. varied the discrepancy between the
pressure became substantial: minority The extremist dissenter produced a re standard line and the other lines system
subjects now accepted the wrong an markable freeing of the subjects; their aticalJy, with the hope of reaching a
swer 13.6 per cent of the time. Under errors dropped to only 9 per cent. point where the error of the majority
the pressure of a majority of three, the Furthermore, all the errors were of the would be so glaring that every subject
subjects' errors jumped to 31.8 per cent. moderate variety. We were able to con would repudiate it and choose inde
But further increases in the size of the clude that dissent per se increased in pendently. In this we regretfully did not
majority apparently did not increase the dependence and moderated the errors succeed. Even when the difference be
weight of the pressure substantially. that occurred, and that the direction of tween the lines was seven inches, there
Clearly the size of the opposition is im dissent exerted consistent effects. were still some who yielded to the error
portant only up to a point. of the majority.
Disturbance of the majority's unanim n all the foregoing experiments each The study provides clear answers to a
ity had a striking effect. In this experi I subject was observed only in a single few relatively simple questions, and it
ment the subject was given the support setting. We now turned to studying the raises many others that await investiga
of a truthful partner-either another in effects upon a given individual of a tion. We would like to know the degree
dividual who did not know of the pre change in the situation to which he was of consistency of persons in situations
arranged agreement among the rest of exposed. The first experiment examined which differ in content and structure. If
the group, or a person who was instruct the consequences of losing or gaining a consistency of independence or conform
ed to give correct answers throughout. partner. The instructed partner began by ity in behavior is shown to be a fact, how
The presence of a supporting partner answering correctly on the first six trials. is it functionally related to qualities of
depleted the majority of much of its With his support the subject usually re character and personality? In what ways
power. Its pressure on the dissenting in sisted pressure from the majority: 18 of is independence related to sociological
dividual was reduced to one fourth: that 27 subjects were completely independ or cultural conditions? Are leaders more
is, subjects answered incorrectly only ent. But after six trials the partner joined independent than other people, or are
one fourth as often as under the pressure the majority. As soon as he did so, there they adept at following their followers?
of a unanimous majority [see chart at was an abrupt rise in the subjects' errors. These and many other questions may
lower left on the opposite page]. The Their submission to the majority was just perhaps be answerable by investiga
weakest persons did not yield as readily. about as frequent as when the minority tions of the type described here.
Most interesting were the reactions to subject was opposed by a unanimous
the partner. Generally the feeling majority throughout. e in society requires consensus as an
toward him was one of warmth and It was surprising to find that the ex E indispensable condition. But consen
closeness; he was credited with inspiring perience of having had a partner and of sus, to be productive, requires that each
confidence. However, the subjects re having braved the majority opposition individual contribute independently out
pudiated the suggestion that the partner with him had failed to strengthen the in of his experience and insight. When con
decided them to be independent. dividuals' independence. Questioning at sensus comes under the dominance of
Was the partner's effect a conse the conclusion of the experiment sug conformity, the social process is polluted
quence of his dissent, or was it related gested that we had overlooked an im and the individual at the same time sur
to his accuracy? We now introduced into portant circumstance; namely, the strong renders the powers on which his func
the experimental group a person who specific effect of "desertion" by the part tioning as a feeling and thinking being
was instructed to dissent from the major ner to the other side. We therefore depends. That we have found the ten
ity but also to disagree with the subject. changed the conditions so that the part dency to conformity in our society so
In some experiments the majority was ner would simply leave the group at the strong that reasonably intelligent and
always to choose the worst of the com proper point. (To allay suspicion it was well-meaning young people are willing
parison lines and the instructed dissenter announced in advance that he had an to call white black is a matter of concern.
to pick the line that was closer to the appOintment with the dean.) In this It raises questions about our ways of edu
length of the standard one; in others the form of the experiment, the partner's ef cation and about the values that guide
majority was consistently intermediate fect outlasted his presence. The errors our conduct.
and the dissenter most in error. In this increased after his departure, but less Yet anyone inclined to draw too pessi
manner we were able to study the rela markedly than after a partner switched mistic conclusions from this report would
tive influence of "compromising" and to the majority. do well to remind himself that the ca
"extremist" dissenters. In a variant of this procedure the trials pacities for independence are not to be
Again the results are clear. When a began with the majority unanimously underestimated. He may also draw some
moderate dissenter is present, the effect giving correct answers. Then they grad consolation from a further observation:
of the majority on the subject decreases ually broke away until on the sixth trial those who participated in this challeng
by approximately one third, and ex the naive subject was alone and the ing experiment agreed nearly without
tremes of yielding disappear. Moreover, group unanimously against him. As long exception that independence was prefer
most of the errors the subjects do make as the subject had anyone on his side, he able to conformity.
34
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60.
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CRITICAL TRIALS NUMBER OF OPPONENTS
ERROR of 123 subjects, each of whom compared SIZE OF MAJORITY which opposed them had an effect on the subjects. With
lines in the presence of six to eight opponents, is a single opponent the subject erred only 3.6 per cent of the time;'with two
plotted in the colored curve. The accuracy of judg· opponents he erred 13.6 per cent; three, 3 1.8 per cent; four, 35.1 per cent;
ments not under pressure is indicated in black. six, 35.2 per cent; seven, 37.1 per cent; nine, 35. 1 per cent; 15,31.2 per cent.
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CRITICAL TRIALS CRITICAL TRIALS
TWO SUBJECTS supporting each other against a PARTNER LEFT SUBJECT after six trials in a single experiment. The
majority made fewer errors (colored curve) than colored curve shows the error of the subject when the partner "deserted" to
one subject did against a majority (black curve). the majority. Black curve shows error when partner merely left the room.
35
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