Modern Psychology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIn the 20th century, psychologists began studying conformity more systematically. Solomon Asch conducted famous experiments showing how individuals would change their answers on simple perceptual tasks in order to fit in with a group’s incorrect responses. This demonstrated the power of social pressure on individual behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In these experiments, participants were shown a line and then asked to match it with one of three comparison lines. The answers were obvious, but confederates (people who were secretly working with the experimenter) intentionally gave incorrect answers. The participants’ task was to state their answer out loud after hearing the confederates’ responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asch found that when participants were in a group where everyone else gave an incorrect answer, many of them also gave an incorrect answer even though they knew it was wrong. In fact, about 75% of participants conformed at least once during the experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asch’s work showed that people are heavily influenced by the opinions and behaviors of those around them, even if it goes against their own beliefs or judgments. This pressure to conform can be so strong that individuals will go along with something they know is wrong just to fit in with a group or avoid being seen as different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, Asch’s experiments highlight how powerful social pressure can be on individual behavior and emphasize the need for critical thinking and independent judgment in order to resist conformity pressures when necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another important study of conformity, Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments were a series of psychological experiments conducted in the 1960s to study how far people would go in obeying an authority figure, even if it meant causing harm to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In these experiments, participants were asked to administer electric shocks to another person (who was actually an actor pretending to be a participant) whenever they answered a question incorrectly. The shocks increased in voltage with each incorrect answer and eventually reached dangerous levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the actor’s screams of pain and pleas for mercy, many participants continued to administer the shocks simply because they were told to do so by the experimenter in charge. In fact, over 60% of participants administered the maximum shock level<\/strong>, even though they believed that the shocks could be fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThese experiments revealed the power of authority figures and social norms in shaping human behavior. Milgram argued that individuals are often willing to act against their own moral beliefs and values when faced with pressure from authority figures or social norms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe experiments also sparked controversy and ethical concerns about research involving deception and potential harm to participants. However, they remain an important contribution to our understanding of human behavior and obedience to authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These findings have important implications for understanding group dynamics and decision-making processes. They suggest that people may be more likely to conform than speak up when they disagree with a group consensus, which can lead to poor decisions or harmful actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nUltimately, like all of life, a balance is needed between conformity and the expression of individuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a tangled issue that has been debated throughout history. On one hand, conformity can be beneficial for social harmony and cooperation, while on the other hand, nonconformity can lead to innovation and progress by questioning established norms. Ultimately, the key to finding a balance between these two realms lies in recognizing the importance of both individual autonomy and collective well-being while finding ways to promote both within society. <\/strong>Of the examples we have examined, John Locke and John Stuart Mill may have been the closest to defining a reasonable balance, but as long as humanity endures, we will be challenged to embrace the tension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout history, conformity has been a topic of interest for philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, and many others. Conformity refers to the tendency of individuals to adjust their attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in order to fit in with a group or society. In this blog post, we will explore the historical views on conformity and how they have evolved over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,2],"tags":[15,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":348,"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprootingconformity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}