How did Solomon Asch conduct his classic experiment on group conformity? Why did many of the subjects in Solomon Asch's experiment give answers that they knew to be incorrect?

Question

What will be an ideal response

Answer 1

Asch picked one student to participate in an experiment who was joined by six others. The six others, however, were "plants" that made choices during the exercise that were preset by the experimenter (Asch). Each of these six participants was instructed to give the wrong answer. In the experiment, the seven subjects were shown a card with a single line on it. A second card was then displayed with three lines on it, one that was obviously the same length as the first and two other lines. The students participating in the experiment were then asked to choose the line on the second card that matched the line on the first. All six of the pre-selected participants picked the same wrong answer, which encouraged the only true participant in the experiment to also choose the same incorrect answer. The subjects gave incorrect answers because they did not trust their own judgment when other people (who were confederates of the experimenter) around them gave different answers. The subjects were afraid to appear foolish by giving answers that were different from not just one or two other participants, but all of them.