had the test subject been older perhaps, he may have figured it out at # 2, and started in on the proctor's hairdo and pants......not to mention the wrong-answering idgits...

Reminds me of five idiots out of six saying that Iraq has WMDs. The lone dissenter would be labeled the idiot and also unpatriotic.

Someone should get the prison scenario experiment, how ordinary people will mold into the roles they are given even if they have no experience

this is my favorite experiment. I quote it a lot when "group think" like things happen at work, or when people behave like sheep.

If i were in the experiment i would hope that i would catch on and purposefully give the other wrong answer, just to screw with their experiment.

I love the knowing mug and head nod to the "partner". "I got your back on this one, man! Let's go get drinks after the experiment, and we'll see what happens."

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Did I just get a nod?

I see the last test, about written responses, as being reason #1,437 the Internet rocks.

My professor mentioned these experiments as an example of misinterpreting experimental results and the importance of debriefing your participants.

The wrong interpretation of this experiment, without aid of debriefing, is that group conformity is making people believe something that they wouldn't otherwise believe. Whereas the more correct interpretation seems to be that bored undergraduates don't care enough to pay attention or make waves and just want their extra credit.

The video above mentioned two possibilities- the subject who genuinely believes himself to be wrong and the subject who just doesn't want to make waves. But I don't think that emphasizes just how little vested interest the subject actually has in the experiment. They have no motivation to be correct! Of course you can get a measurable social pressure when the task is completely meaningless. And still, 2/3rds of the time people still say the correct answer.

Anyway, with this experimental setup only the first possibility is really interesting in my opinion. And apparently Asch died without know which possibility was dominant.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments and
http://www.zainea.com/socialconformity.htm (I don't accept the interpretation the authors give in that study).

The Milgram experiments are much more informative about authority pressure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

I know everyone says this, but i really really really wouldn't change my answer!

This is not a very good experiment imo, anyone with moderate intelligence will catch on to the true purpose of the test in no time.

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