Three infamous conformity experiments were performed in the second half of the 20th century. While the conclusions of the experiments tried to say something about humans’ tendency to conform, it seems nothing meaningful was said about what underlies this tendency: a search for meaning.
The experiments
- The Asch experiment showed that people tend to conform to the majority opinion, even when it is obviously wrong. 74% of participants gave at least one incorrect answer out of the 12 critical trials.
- The Milgram experiment showed that people tend to obey authority figures, even when they are asked to harm others with electric shocks (in reality, nobody is being harmed, but participants are unaware of it). All participants went up to 300 volts, and 65% went up to the full, life-threatening, 450 volts.
- The Stanford prison experiment showed that people tend to act according to the roles and rules that are assigned to them, even when they are abusive or degrading. The experiment was supposed to last two weeks, but it was terminated after six days due to the abuse of the prisoners by the guards.
Out of 50 or more outsiders who had seen the prison, only one ever questioned its morality. Click to read more…
A lesser-known fact about the Stanford prison experiment is that, according to Professor Philip Zimbardo, who led the research team, out of 50 or more outsiders who had seen the prison, including friends and family of the pretend prisoners, only one ever questioned its morality. According to Zimbardo, the visitors “became bit players in our prison drama, being good middle-class adults”. It was Christina Maslach, a recent Stanford Ph.D. brought in to conduct interviews with the guards and prisoners, who questioned the morality of the experiment. Her objection to what she saw led to the premature termination of the experiment.
What Was Made Out of It?
- The conclusions and discussions regarding these experiments (besides the question of their morality) revolved around those who conformed, trying to say something about humans’ tendency or nature of conforming.
- But, given that about 25% or more of the participants of the Asch and Milgram experiments didn’t conform, it is hard to say that conformity is human nature.
- It seems that not much has been said about those who didn’t conform – what made them immune to conformity?
Why Do We Conform?
- Let’s try to break it down.
- None of the participants were forced to conform.
- If not forced, those who conformed therefore gained something by conforming.
- What did the conformists gain?
- A list of rewards such as approval, a sense of belonging, etc. can be suggested.
- But these are all secondary. These are means for achieving something more fundamental: meaning.
- It is possible that conformists conformed because conforming provided them with, or helped them maintain, a sense of meaning.
- So why didn’t the rest conform?
- They might have been among the few who don’t seek meaning. More likely, they already had a sufficient sense of meaning and self. They didn’t need external sources for meaning and could possibly be self-reliant in creating their own.
Why Do Many of Us Have a Weak Sense of Self and Meaning?
- It is possible to suggest that we don’t have a strong sense of self and we aren’t meaningly independent, at least partly because we were conditioned to follow social expectations and look externally for meaning. We were misled by others, who were themselves lost.
- We weren’t given much opportunity to do something for ourselves and to get to know ourselves. We weren’t given the opportunity to establish a strong, meaningful, independent, sense of self.
We Tend to Conform to Conformity, We Shouldn’t
- Many regard conformity as a fact of life. A Psychology Today article titled “You Are a Conformist (That Is, You Are Human)“, for example, states that “conformity is inevitable”.
- If conformity is inevitable for humans, is it inhumane to be a nonconformist? It is ironic, as usually we tend to see those who don’t conform as better humans.
- Saying conformity is inevitable and is an essential part of human nature is cutting ourselves too much slack. Paradoxically, it is proven wrong by the conformity experiments.
- Explaining conformity by claiming that “humans are social beings” is superficial and meaningless. Were the Asch experiment participants afraid they would lose all of their friends and family for giving the correct answer in a meaningless test? They could keep being social beings even if they were disliked by the random strangers in the room. They might have felt otherwise, but there is no reason to view this feeling as inevitable.
- Conformity is avoidable. Not conforming is hard indeed, as it demands us to go against everything we were conditioned for – but it is possible.
- We can try to develop a stronger sense of self and become less prone to conformity.
- But more importantly, we can, and should, stop conditioning children to conformity, and allow them to develop a strong sense of self.
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