Thesis on "Psychology of Conformity and Obedience"

/>Classical Study of Group Influence on the Individual:

In the early 1950s, psychologist Solomon Asch (1907-1996) demonstrated the power of group influence and the susceptibility of the individual to blind conformity. Asch's experiments involved subjects within groups of confederates all of whom agreed unanimously on an obviously wrong answer, such as the comparative lengths of two lines depicted in a drawing. Those experiments revealed that many subjects will change their answer and support the group's consensus instead of maintaining their original position without being influenced by the group (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008).

It is thought that various factors determine whether or not (or to what degree) different people are susceptible to group influence. Generally, the size of the group, its degree of unanimity, its relative social status, and variation in aspects of individual psychology in the realm of self-esteem and confidence all contribute to the power of the group to influence the individual in specific cases (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008).

In 1970, psychologist Phillip Zimbardo conducted the (now) famous Stanford Prison Experiment in which psychology study volunteers were randomly assigned to be prisoners or prison guards in a simulated prison facility created for the experiment. Without any direction from Zimbardo, the guard group followed the lead of the most dominant individuals and the individual guards became so abusive to their fellow classmates playing the roles of prisoners that Zimbardo had to stop the experiment barely halfway through its scheduled two-week run. Subsequently, individuals from both groups of guards and prisoners required psychological counselling about their experiences. Some of the guards in particular suffered from the behavior that they expressed during the experiment (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008).

Contemporary Example of Group Influence on the Individual:

The revelation that members of the American Armed Forces stationed at the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Iraq had engaged in systematic abuse and torture of prisoners of war is one of the most recent and significant reminders of the detrimental effect of the phenomena of groupthink, conformity, and blind obedience to authority. In many ways, it… READ MORE