How an experiment on matching lines revealed the power of group pressure.

[00:00.19]It's the early 1950s and a key question lingers in the air, why do people often ignore facts in favor of following the crowd? Across the world, psychologists seek to understand what drives human conformity and how groups can shape our perceptions, not just our actions.
[00:17.76]At Swarthmore College, Solomon Asch is both curious and skeptical.
[00:22.10]Inspired by earlier studies from figures like Muzafer Sherif who showed that people conform most when the truth is murky, Asch asks the question in a new way, what if there's no doubt about the answer? Will people still conform if the truth is obvious? His curiosity sets the stage for an experiment that will rewrite what we know about the human mind and the pressure to fit in.
[00:45.59]Asch's work is about to reveal the strange power of seeing what isn't there.

It’s the early 1950s and a key question lingers in the air: why do people often ignore facts in favor of following the crowd? Across the world, psychologists seek to understand what drives human conformity and how groups can shape our perceptions, not just our actions. At Swarthmore College, Solomon Asch is both curious and skeptical. Inspired by earlier studies from figures like Muzafer Sherif who showed that people conform most when the truth is murky, Asch asks the question in a new way. What if there’s no doubt about the answer? Will people still conform if the truth is obvious? His curiosity sets the stage for an experiment that will rewrite what we know about the human mind and the pressure to fit in. Asch’s work is about to reveal the strange power of seeing what isn’t there.

The Asch Conformity Experiments — Seeing What Isn’t There

The Psychology of Going Along