The Asch Conformity Analysis

We all have opinions in different levels of seriousness from which cereal is the best to the solution to gun violence in America. Still, too many people seem uninformed and willing to go along with what they’re told. The psychology of conformity, and interesting subject, was opened up by Solomon Asch in 1935 when he was particularly interested in why people went on letting the Nazis kill innocent people. He conducted an experiment on conformity to study how people behave in groups, which is now known as the Asch Experiment. Asch placed the subjects in a room with five others who were in on the experiment. Then the supervisor asked the subjects to pick which of the three numbered lines matched the first. The six men gave their verbal answers one by one, the subject being fifth in the lineup. When the first four men all gave wrong answers, the subject proceeded to give the wrong answer on average one third of the time even when the were aware the answer was wrong. In total, out of the 12 critical trials, 75% of the subjects conformed at least one.

This classic example demonstrates Banksy fearlessness to confront the problems in today’s society. His opinions are prominent in his art, and although all people may not agree with those opinions, everyone can benefit from his expressions. Banksy forces us to question our beliefs whether to reaffirm them or change them. We don’t need the opinion as much as we need the question. It’s time for people to stop conforming. After the four men have all said three and the supervisor asks us for our answer, it’s time we say two. Opinion isn’t a four letter word, and it’s time we stop treating it as such. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make a difference by speaking one’s