Opinions and Social Pressure Essay - 939 Words

Solomon E. Asch â€Å"Opinions and Social Pressure† Salomon E. Asch in his essay â€Å"Opinions and Social Pressure† conducted an experiment to determine effects of group pressure towards an individual and concluded that there is a very strong tendency to conformity even when doing so conflicting with their own senses of morality. In the experiment a group of young students have to compare length of lines on two different sheets of paper. On one of them there is a sample single line and on the other one there are three lines only one of which is same size as the sample line from the first sheet. People taking part in this experiment are instructed to point at lines that are the same length. At first, during the experiment the group is†¦show more content†¦Breaking up unanimity of the group in given answers has a significant effect. In the experiment it is also noted that the rate of wrong answers depends to a considerable degree on how wrong the majority is. E ven with significant difference in length of lines there were still individuals who agree with majority error. For those participating in this experiment almost all declare that independence was preferable to conformity. â€Å"Life in society requires consensus as an indispensable conditions. But consensus, to be productive, requires that each individual contribute independently out of his experience and insight. (†¦) We have found that tendency to conformity in our society so strong that reasonably and well- meaning young people are willing to call white black is a matter of concern† (Salomon E. Asch â€Å"Opinion and Social Pressure† pp.730). The experiment has proven that we live in times where opinion become very subjective and can be easily modified. Social techniques are wildly used in marketing and sales or even by lobbyist in governmental decision making process. The uncertainty of people own senses, opinion or knowledge can be easily abused. Asch’s experiment implements how people believe in the obvious lies. It’s shows simple ways of influencing perception, judgment and action. Results of this experiment trigger a number of social and scientifically researches like study of BernsShow MoreRelatedOpinions and Social Pressure Response Essay729 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿Asch, Solomon E. â€Å"Opinions and Social Pressure.† Scientific America. 193.5 (1995): 31-35. Rpt. in Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen.12th ed. New York: Pearson Inc., 2013. 655-659. Print. McLeod, Saul. â€Å"Asch Experiment.† SimplyPsychology.org. Simply Psychology, 2008. Web. 28 August 2014. Summary: In the article, â€Å"Opinions and Social Pressure† by Solomon E. Asch, he states that social pressure from a majority group could influenceRead MoreUnderstanding Social Influence On Online Choice1024 Words   |  5 PagesUnderstanding Social Influence in Online Choice is a study that was focused on the role of social influence in online recommender systems. Haiyi Zhu and Bernardo A. Huberman, the authors of the study, were interested in studying how often peoples’ choices are affected by other individuals’ endorsements. The hypothesis of the study is that individuals â€Å"are more likely to reverse their opinions when the reversion causes less self-inconsistency (the confirmation pressure is weaker) or the opposing social opinionsRead MoreGroup Minds1068 Words   |  5 PagesENG1050 July 9, 2012 Dismissing your own individual opinions to reach group consensus, now that’s negative peer pressure! Peer pressure will always be a problem and can affect anyone. I say that because no matter where you’re from or who you are, peer pressure is lurking about. 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