Essay 1

Summary
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The title of this article is “Opinions and Social Pressure”. The author is Solomon E. Asch.

His main claim is individuals can be influenced by others to deny their own answer, even if backed by evidence.
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Solomon conducts a series of experiments testing the impact of group pressure on the

individual. Subjects are shown two cards, one has a single line on it, the other has three lines of different lengths. The subjects are asked to match the length of the line on the first card to the line with the same length on the second card. The first two trials the group answers unanimously. On the third the last man answers different from the rest. What that man does not know is everyone in the classroom is instructed to give the wrong answer except for him. As the trials go on his answers become more unsure. Another experiment is done the same way with
123 college students. Of the 123 students a big percentage agrees with the majority. Under ordinary circumstances the student will match the lines with a one precent error rate. Under group pressure the error rate for the same individual increases to 36.8 precent. The subjects differ in response. Some are independent and give their answer every time, and some agree with the majority every time.
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The size of the majority also matters. The more there is in the majority the bigger the

error rate, but this is only up to a certain point. Also the resistance to group pressure depends greatly to how wrong the majority is. When the majority is told to pick the worst answer possible the error rate drops greatly. These experiments raise a lot of questions about independence in society. Asch Solomon E. “Opinions and Social Pressure.” Writing & Reading for ACP Composition.
COMP. Christine R. Farris and Deanna M. Jessup. Print.