Stand firm…The Asch Study still runs the room

“I know the answer, but I’ll go with them to avoid conflict”

“Everyone at work agreed, so I went with it”

“He’s a nice guy; she must be the problem”

“The news wouldn’t lie to us”

“My doctor said it was okay”

“My doctor said my numbers look normal, I have nothing to worry about”

“I have used this/done this for years with no issue/it hasn’t killed me yet”

The Asch Conformity Study

In 1951 psychologist Solomon Asch ran a simple test. Show people 3 lines, ask which one matches. Obvious answer. But he put 1 real person in a room with 7 actors told to give the wrong answer out loud.

75% of people conformed at least once. Not because they were dumb. Because going against the group feels physically uncomfortable. Our brains will doubt our own eyes before they’ll risk standing alone.

Asch also found conformity drops fast when there’s just one other person who says the correct answer. You don’t need the whole world to agree. You need one anchor.

Often, I find I am the anchor. It takes time to see that. That has weathered me. Yet conformity will not have me.

I don’t need permission to trust what I’ve experienced, learned, & what my clients experience.

The room will always have actors. Stand tall anyway. It will eventually save your life.

Truth is always going to look “weird” or “eccentric” in a room full of lies.

Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 70(9), 1–70. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093718

McLeod, S. (2023, March 1). Asch conformity experiment. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html

“Psychologist Solomon Asch ran his conformity studies in 1951-1956 at Swarthmore College.”