Asch's Conformity Study:

Effects of Group Pressure Upon the

Modification and Distortion of Judgments

Society: Human Crowds - Understanding their Social Dynamics

Fall Semester - 10.10.2023
Sofiya Nychyporenko and Valentina Serratore
AGENDA
Introduction and Background
1 • What is Social Conformity?
• Goal of the experiment
Experimental Variation
4 • The Effect of Non-unanimous Majorities
• The Role of Majority Size
• The Role of Stimulus Situation

Experimental Setup Conclusion

2 5
• Starting Conditions • Summary
• Visual perception task • Q&A
• Video

Results
3
• Result of the first part of the experiment
• The Independent Subject vs. The Yielding
Subject

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INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

3
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Solomon Elliot Asch

• September 14, 1907 – 20 February, 1996

• Polish-American psychologist and pioneer in social
psychology
• 1951 – “The effects of group pressure upon the
modification and distortion of judgments”

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INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

“Social conformity
refers to the tendency
of people to adopt the
behavior, attitudes,
and values of those
around them.”
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

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 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
CONFEDERATE CONFEDERATE CONFEDERATE CONFEDERATE

• Male • Male • Male • Male

• College student • College student • College student • College student
• He is secretly working with the • He is secretly working with the • He is secretly working with the • He is secretly working with the
researcher researcher researcher researcher

CONFEDERATE CONFEDERATE CONFEDERATE CRITICAL SUBJECT

• Male • Male • Male • Male

• College student • College student • College student • College student
• He is secretly working with the • He is secretly working with the • He is secretly working with the • He is NOT aware of the actual
researcher researcher researcher goal of the experiment

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VISUAL PERCEPTION TASK

1 23

MATCH THE LENGHT ANNOUCE HIS

OF A GIVEN LINE WITH JUDGMENT PUBLICLY
ONE OF THREE LINES

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VISUAL PERCEPTION TASK
VISUAL PERCEPTION TASK
ASCH Conformity Experiment

https://youtu.be/TYIh4MkcfJA?si=gg_bOMCZbZj8s4XS
VISUAL PERCEPTION TASK

2 CONTRADICTORY CRITICAL SUBJECT’S

FORCES JUDGEMENT IN FRONT OF
1. Evidence of the critical subject’s THE MAJORITY
perception VISUAL
2. Unanimous evidence of a group of PERCEPTION
TASK’S
equals FEATURES

NO CHANCE TO AVOID
IMMEDIATE SITUATION
THIS SITUATION
RESULTS

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RESULTS
RESULTS

MOVEMENT TOWARDS PREPONDERANCE OF CLEAR DIVISION

THE MAJORITY ESTIMATES IN THE BETWEEN
CRITICAL GROUP WAS CRITICAL
CORRECT DESPITE THE SUBJECTS
PRESSURE

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THE INDEPENDENT SUBJECT
V.S.
THE YIELDING SUBJECT

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THE INDEPENDENT SUBJECT
BEHAVIOUR
INITIALLY HESITATED AND DISAGREED WITH THE GROUP

CONFIDENTLY MAINTAINED HIS DISSENT

COMMITTED TO TRUSTING HIS JUDGMENT

OCCASIONALLY CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY OF

GROUP ERROR

Observations:
• Illustrates the struggle between personal judgment and group influence.
• Emphasizes the importance of individual perspective amidst social pressure.
THE YIELDING SUBJECT BEHAVIOUR

11 of 12 trials

Observations:
• Group confidence strongly
influenced yielding
behaviour.
• Struggled to maintain
individual judgment despite
doubts.
Adopted majority's • Highlights challenges in
estimates due to loss of Nervous and confused
confidence decision-making under group
pressure.

BEHAVIOUR
 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN
REACTIONS
SUBJECTS
INDEPENDENT

Confident Independence:
Demonstrated resilience in withstanding
group opposition, relying on their
perception.
1. Independent
Independent and Withdrawn: and confident
Acted on explicit principles emphasizing Reliance on their
individuality. perception
2. Independent
Tension-Based Independence: and withdrawn
Experienced doubt but adhered to
judgments to adequately address the task. No emotional
reaction 3. Independent

Tension and
doubt
 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN
REACTIONS
SUBJECTS
YIELDING
INDEPENDENT

Distortion of Perception:
A few subjects yielded ultimately without
being aware of perceptual distortion,
perceiving the majority estimates as
1. Yielding
correct.
Distortion of Judgment: Stress of group
pressure
Most yielding subjects doubted their
perception and lacked confidence, joining 2. Yielding
the majority.
Majority is
Distortion of Action: correct
Did not modify perception but yielded due 3. Yielding
to social pressure to conform. Avoid appearing
different
EXPERIMENTAL VARIATIONS

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THE EFFECT OF NON-UNANIMOUS
MAJORITIES
TRUE PARTNER +
LATER WITHDRAWAL
Critical subjects paired with a
partner who always gave the
correct answer.
The partner was a majority
member and instructed to
respond correctly.
FINDINGS CONCLUSION
With a Partner: Only 5.5%
conformed.
After Withdrawal: Conformity Transition from having a
increased to 28.5%. supportive partner to solitude
influenced conformity.
Surprisingly, losing the
partner restored conformity.
THE EFFECT OF NON-UNANIMOUS
MAJORITIES
LATE ARRIVAL OF A
TRUE PARTNER
Subjects began as a minority
of one in a unanimous
majority.
A late-arriving partner started
providing correct estimates.
FINDINGS CONCLUSION
Late Arrival of Partner:
Reduced conformity to 8.7%.
Changing one's stance after
initially conforming can be
The late partner's presence
challenging due to fear of
reduced conformity for both
admitting error.
initial conformers and
independents.
THE EFFECT OF NON-UNANIMOUS
MAJORITIES

INFLUENCE OF A FINDINGS CONCLUSION

COMPROMISING PARTNER

Errors were reduced but not

Majority consistently gave
significantly. Most errors
extreme, incorrect answers. Even a single member
(75.7%) were moderate with
a compromised partner. deviating moderately from the
One majority member majority affects conformity.
provided answers between
Lack of unanimity influenced
truth and majority's position.
the direction of errors
THE ROLE OF MAJORITY SIZE
Examining how majority size affects individual judgments.
Varying unanimous majorities: 16, 8, 4, 3, 2, 1 persons. • One opposing
individual reduces
majority effect.
• Majority of two leads
to a slight distortion
(12.8% errors).
• Full majority effect
observed with three
or more.

CONCLUSION
Social support is crucial
in group dynamics,
influencing judgments.
THE ROLE OF STIMULUS SITUATION
Ongoing Research
Systematically alter stimulus
conditions, focusing on
discrepancy magnitude and
task clarity.

Discrepancy Magnitude Structural Clarity

Varying majority deviation Systematically alter stimulus

from objective conditions conditions, focusing on
affects the quality of yielding; discrepancy magnitude and
more extreme majorities lead task clarity.
to increased "compromise"
errors.
What would you do? Would you go along with the majority opinion, or would
you be true to your opinion?

If you were involved in this experiment how do you think you would behave?
Would you conform to the majority's viewpoint?

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THANK YOU!
QUESTIONS?

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SOURCES
Asch, S. E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment. In H. Guetzkow
(ed.) Groups, leadership and men. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Press.
https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/1952-asch.pdf

eqivideos. (2007, December 22). ASCH Conformity Experiment [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIh4MkcfJA

GoodTherapy Editor Team. (2015, July 24). Solomon Asch Biography.

https://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/solomon-asch.html

PsychologyToday. (2023). Conformity.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/conformity#:~:text=Conformity%20is%20the%20tendency
%20for,pressure%20or%20subtler%2C%20unconscious%20influence.

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