Unknown to you, this is not an experiment on visual perception. Everyone else in the room is part of a set-up to test whether you will conform to the wisdom of the group. Remarkably, 76 per cent of participants conformed at least once.[ii] Like the young Solomon Asch, they gave answers that defied what their eyes were telling them. Perhaps they genuinely began to doubt their own senses or, more likely, they went along with the group simply to fit in. In so many situations in everyday life we are, like Asch’s participants, faced with a choice of whether to speak our mind or go along with others. Subsequent studies have confirmed again and again how susceptible many of us are to the power of social influence.
If you are a student of psychology you will probably have come across this famous experiment. So, what’s new? Well, what is often overlooked is the fact that 24 per cent of Asch’s participants that did not conform, even once.
I find it remarkable that relatively little attention has been paid to asking what makes these people different from those that did conform.