Solomon Asch was a social psychologist that worked on issue of conformity. He worked in a lab and tested nine participants having one being a confederate, knowing when to say the wrong answer. They were shown multiple images of lines and were asked which one was different. Depending on the size of the group and what kind of participants were there, there would be a fluctuation of results, with when people would conform to the rest of the group. The more people that would take part in the experiment the high percentage of conformists, when there were not that many participants then there would be a less likely chance of conformity. Solomon Asch influenced many people to study social psychology and take part in looking what makes people act and do the things that they do. .
Solomon Asch Conformity Experiments.
Social psychology looks at a wide range of social topics, including group behavior, social perception, leadership, nonverbal behavior, conformity, aggression, and prejudice. It is important to note that social psychology is not just about looking at social influences. Social perception and social interaction are also vital to understanding social behavior ("Social Psychology," n.d.). Solomon Asch is considered a pioneer of social psychology and Gestalt psychology. His conformity experiments demonstrated the power of social influence and still serve as a source of inspiration for social psychology researchers today. While Asch's work illustrated how peer pressure influences social behavior, often in negative ways, Asch believed that people tend to behave decently towards each other (Ketchum, 1955). .
Gleitman, Rozin and Sabini said that during the early years of World War II when Hitler was at the height of power, Solomon Asch began studying the impact of propaganda and indoctrination while he was a professor at Brooklyn College's psychology department. .
Propaganda is most effective, he concluded, when fear and ignorance mix.
