Asch’s Conformity Experiment on Groupthink

Solomon Asch’s Conformity Experiment

Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment examined whether social pressure could lead people to deny what they plainly saw.

The video connects the question to an anecdote from Asch’s childhood. After his grandmother said a glass of wine was for a prophet, his uncle encouraged him to watch it closely. The boy thought he saw the wine level fall. As an adult, Asch investigated how expectations and other people’s judgments might shape perception.

How the experiment worked

• Participants: 123 white male college students, who were told they were taking part in a study of visual judgment.
• Group setup: Each participant joined a group of six to eight other people, who were actually actors briefed on the experiment.
• Task: The group saw one card with a line and another card with three lines. Each person said aloud which of the three lines matched the first.
• Order of responses: The actors answered before the real participant, who responded last.
• Rounds: The actors gave the correct answer in the first two rounds. In the next 12 rounds—the “critical trials”—they all gave the same clearly incorrect answer.
• Choice: The participant could agree with the majority or state the answer that appeared to be true.

Findings and lessons

• 23% of participants always gave the correct answer.
• 72% conformed to the majority at least once.
• 5% always gave the obviously incorrect answer.
• Having even one other person give the correct answer substantially reduced conformity.
• Three peers were enough to influence a participant; adding more actors did not increase conformity in the reported findings.

The video’s central lesson is that the desire to fit in can lead people to publicly agree with a group, even when the group is plainly wrong. It raises questions about independent judgment, education, and how to help young people speak up.

The video says later replications found that the effect remained significant, especially among women and in homogeneous peer groups.

The video closes with Asch’s 1955 warning that conformity can lead intelligent, well-meaning people to call “white” black. It frames this as a concern for society and education.

Speakers and sources featured

• Narrator: Presents the experiment, its background, and its findings.
• Solomon Asch: The psychologist whose experiment is discussed; a statement from 1955 is quoted.
• Experiment participants and actors: Described as part of the study, but no individual is identified by name.