Evaluation of Opinions and Social Pressure Article
There is no man in every island, this saying has been always been believed in since the early times. The way a person behave, reacts or do things can be caused by numerous forms of influences and due to these, many studies are conducted to linked how social pressure is linked to human behaviour.
Studies of these questions began with the interest in hypnosis aroused by the French physician Jean Martin Charcot (a teacher of Sigmund Freud) toward the end of 19th century. Charcot believed that only hysterical patients could be fully hypnotized but this view was soon challenged by two other physicians, Hyppolyte Bernheim and A. A. Liebault, who demonstrated that they could put most people under the hypnotic spell.(Asch, 1955, p.1)
Continuous repetition of instructions has shown that it can affect a person’s involuntary reaction. “The sociologists Gabriel Tarde summed it all up in the aphorism: “Social man is a somnambulist.””(Asch, 1955, p.1).
An experiment was conducted by simply asking opinions and references to a group of college students concerning various matters and on the latter part, subjects were asked again to state their choices but this time, they were also informed by the opinions of large groups or authorities. According to Asch (1955), “many subjects apparently shifted their judgements in the direction of the views of the majorities or the experts”(p.2).
Asch assumption is that people tend to give in to the social pressure without taking into consideration to uncritical submission to it. (Asch, 1955,p.31).
Based on the experiment, “More disquieting…difference from the majority as a sign of some general deficiency in themselves, which at all costs they must hide.”(Asch,1955,p.3).
According to Asch(1955)”when a moderate dissenter is present, the effect…decreases by approximately one third, and extremes of yielding disappear…Most of the errors the subjects do make are moderate, rather than flagrant”(p.4).
Further, Asch(1955) states that “[l]ife in
Studies of these questions began with the interest in hypnosis aroused by the French physician Jean Martin Charcot (a teacher of Sigmund Freud) toward the end of 19th century. Charcot believed that only hysterical patients could be fully hypnotized but this view was soon challenged by two other physicians, Hyppolyte Bernheim and A. A. Liebault, who demonstrated that they could put most people under the hypnotic spell.(Asch, 1955, p.1)
Continuous repetition of instructions has shown that it can affect a person’s involuntary reaction. “The sociologists Gabriel Tarde summed it all up in the aphorism: “Social man is a somnambulist.””(Asch, 1955, p.1).
An experiment was conducted by simply asking opinions and references to a group of college students concerning various matters and on the latter part, subjects were asked again to state their choices but this time, they were also informed by the opinions of large groups or authorities. According to Asch (1955), “many subjects apparently shifted their judgements in the direction of the views of the majorities or the experts”(p.2).
Asch assumption is that people tend to give in to the social pressure without taking into consideration to uncritical submission to it. (Asch, 1955,p.31).
Based on the experiment, “More disquieting…difference from the majority as a sign of some general deficiency in themselves, which at all costs they must hide.”(Asch,1955,p.3).
According to Asch(1955)”when a moderate dissenter is present, the effect…decreases by approximately one third, and extremes of yielding disappear…Most of the errors the subjects do make are moderate, rather than flagrant”(p.4).
Further, Asch(1955) states that “[l]ife in