Listen&Learn: The Asch Conformity Experiment

Posted by: Jaksyn Peacock

An experiment that tested how likely it is for a person to conform to the opinion of a group.

Pre-listening vocabulary

conformity: the act of behaving the same way as others in order to fit in
psychology: the study of the mind and human behaviour
majority: most of the people in a group
participant: a person who takes part in an activity
individual: one single person

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:26 — 1.3MB)

Gapfill exercise

The Asch Conformity Experiment was a famous psychology meant to show how likely people are to agree with the majority, even if they know the majority is wrong. Solomon Asch, a Polish psychologist, conducted this experiment in 1951. He gathered some , who were put into small groups for the experiment. However, there was only one real volunteer in each group. The other people were . Asch would show the group two : one with a line on it, and the other with three different lines. One of the lines on the second card matched the line on the first card. He would then ask the participants to pick the line that matched. Every once in a while, the actors all picked the wrong line, and waited for the volunteer to say their answer. About 75% of the volunteers picked the wrong answer in agreement with the group. This proved Asch’s theory, that people are likely to trust the of a group over the opinion of an individual, even if they believe the group is wrong.

Comprehension questions

[wp_quiz id=”19573″]

Discussion/essay questions

Why do you think people are motivated to agree with the rest of a group? Do you think it’s because they’re afraid of seeming unintelligent, or do people just believe that the majority is more likely to be right?

Transcript

The Asch Conformity Experiment was a famous psychology experiment meant to show how likely people are to agree with the majority, even if they know the majority is wrong. Solomon Asch, a Polish psychologist, conducted this experiment in 1951. He gathered some volunteers, who were put into small groups for the experiment. However, there was only one real volunteer in each group. The other people were actors. Asch would show the group two cards: one with a line on it, and the other with three different lines. One of the lines on the second card matched the line on the first card. He would then ask the participants to pick the line that matched. Every once in a while, the actors all picked the wrong line, and waited for the volunteer to say their answer. About 75% of the volunteers picked the wrong answer in agreement with the group. This proved Asch’s theory, that people are likely to trust the opinion of a group over the opinion of an individual, even if they believe the group is wrong.

Written and recorded by Jaksyn Peacock for EnglishClub

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16 comments

Ismaeil says:

Thank you.
This type of texts is great, because it sounds like a story.
Luis says:

The unsure individuals take easy without thinking, however, the wrong decision on Asch experiment prevails over bright reason.
ajika says:

it’s all about the inner being and self-worth
Harini S says:

Thanks for this reading. We should never follow the majority just because they seem right.
Anne SANSEAU says:

it’s pity than people conform their opinion to the group
It’s important to have its personnal opinions and above all to make them known
Jocelyne says:

I think people conform their opinion to the group so as not to suffer and to be alone To think differently. It is very pity, because they would bring real opinion anymore.
Mastaque Ahmed Choudhury says:

– Group & individual nature is exposed in this passage. Hence it is extremely important & useful for all
Fahd says:

Personally I think that poeple all around human history tried to be a part of a social group for multiple reasons that why individuals have tendency to adhere to the opinion of the majority even though this majority may be wrong.
Netti Herawati says:

The people are afraid of diffrence with the group. They deny to be rejected by group
Netti Herawati says:

People are afraid to be different with their group. They want to be received for the group.
Abdel says:

The contemporary discussion of personal autonomy can primarily be distinguished from Kantian moral autonomy through its commitment to metaphysical neutrality. Related to this is the adherence to at least a procedural individualism: within contemporary personal autonomy accounts, an action is not judged to be autonomous because of its rootedness in universal principles, but based on features of the action and decision-making process purely internal and particular to the individual agent.

The main distinction within personal autonomy is that between content-neutral accounts, which do not specify any particular values or principles that must be endorsed by the autonomous agent, and substantive accounts which specify some particular value or values that must be included within autonomous decision-making.
adil says:

people are likely to agree with majority as to avoid any confrontation . they want to be the part of a social group. basically,, they want to feel connected with rest of the group.
Kim oanh says:

Thanks a lot for this extremely useful lesson.
Pamela Flores says:

Good reading. It is important to remember that even those ideas that seem right, may do a lot of harm if they are not adequately addressed. So, we never should follow the majority just because they seem right.
Oleh Lavrov says:

Thanks a lot for this extremely useful lesson.
Salsabila Saroni says:

Maybe because they’re afraid of seeming unintelligent, and people just believe that the majority is more likely to be right.