Page 41 - The Social Animal

Conformity 23

to stay in the good graces of other people. For example, when peo-
ple unobtrusively observe an Asch-like conformity experiment, they
typically predict that the experimental participants will conform
11
more than they actually do. Interestingly enough, these same sur-
reptitious observers predict that they will conform less than people
like themselves actually do. That is, we know other people conform,
but we underestimate the extent to which we can be induced to fol-
low the group.
Was Sam convinced by his fellow college students that his pre-
ferred presidential candidate was a phony, or did he simply go along
with their judgment in order to be accepted while continuing to be-
lieve in the sincerity of the candidate? Because Sam is a hypothetical
person, we cannot answer that question definitively. Were the yielders
in Asch’s experiment convinced that their initial judgment was incor-
rect and the unanimous judgment of the others was right? Asch’s in-
terviews with his subjects strongly suggest that their conformity was
merely for public consumption; they were going along to get along.

Factors That Increase or Decrease

Conformity
Unanimity In situations like the one investigated by Asch, one of
the crucial factors that determines the likelihood that the partici-
pant’s opinion will conform to that of the majority is whether the
majority opinion is unanimous. If a participant is joined by even one
ally who gives the correct response, his or her conformity to the er-
roneous judgment of the majority drops sharply. 12 In fact, even if
unanimity is broken by a non-ally, the power of the group is seriously
13
diminished. That is, if one of the other group members gives an in-
correct response that is different from the error of the majority (an-
swering that the correct line is C as the rest of the group responds
A), the presence of this fellow dissenter dramatically reduces the
pressure to conform, and the participant is likely to give the correct
response: line B. A fellow dissenter exerts a powerful freeing effect
from the influence of the majority. If there is unanimity, however, the
actual size of the majority need not be very great for it to elicit max-
imum conformity from a person. In fact, the tendency for someone
to conform to group pressure is about as great when the unanimous