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The parameters of conformity
and obedience
By Niall Geary

Asch conformity experiments
• Performed by Solomon Asch on groups of
students to demonstrate the power of
conformity
• The series of studies he performed
became known as the Asch paradigm
• This has formed the basis for modern
physiological attitudes towards how
individuals conform

Asch conformity experiments

Asch conformity experiments
•
•

•
•

•

The experiment was conducted
with a group of students
Normally it would be in a group of
7, with 5 or 6 being deliberate
conspirators and acting in a predetermined manner
The aim was to see if those not
involved would conform with the
rest of group and to what extent
Participants had to answer
questions the conspirators would
answer wrong deliberately, the
goal being to see if those not
involved would choose the same
wrong answer trying to conform
The questions were based around
lines and different sizes

The results
• When the answer was obviously wrong very few
people answered incorrectly 1 out 35
• However when everyone voiced the wrong answer
75% answered incorrect as well
• It found that when the conspirators were not
unanimous in their answers the likelihood of
answering wrong was low as conformity was low, so
only 5-10% answered wrong
• Minorities are more likely to answer correct than a
majority
• Men where less likely to conform than women

Milgram shock experiments
• These were social phycology experiments
performed at Yale university by Milgram
• It was designed to be a test of how far
people are willing to obey authority figures
• Many considered this experiment to be
unethical and horrific as it physiologically
abused individuals

Milgram wanted to see the extent to which individuals would obey authority
figures in an attempt to show how so many Nazi Germans committed so many
horrific crimes without any sort of human conviction
...


•

•

•

The actual experiment
The experiment put individuals into
position where they would ask questions
to another unseen individual
...

The other individual was in fact not
connected to any electric shocks and
fine simply faking any pain that they
were suppose to be in
...


The results
• 70% of all individuals
ministered lethal shocks many
administering the final 450 volt
shock, though most felt
uneasy about doing so and
showed concern for the
unseen individuals health
• This is consistent with
behaviour observed during
WW2 when German soldiers
felt uneasy after ethnically
cleansing the civilian
population

Hofling hospital experiment
• Conducted by Hofling in 1966
• Was a experiment to test the
obedience to authority in the nursedoctor relationship

The experiment
•
•

•

•

The nurses should have refused
for several reasons
The drugs limit was clearly marked
as 10mg they shouldn`t have
exceeded this
They aren`t allowed to take orders
over the phone for security
reasons
They aren`t allowed to administer
the drug unless in exceptional
circumstances without a doctors
permission and with appropriate
paperwork completed

The experiment
•
•

•

•

The experiment involved 22
nurses selected by Hofling
Hofling would call by phone under
the identity of Dr smith and order
the nurses to administer 20mg of
a fictional drug called “Astroten” to
a patient
The drug was clearly marked as
10 mg being the maximum daily
dose
Dr smith claimed he would
complete call paperwork when he
reached the hospital

The results
• Hofling found that 21 out of 22 nurses would
have administered the drug to the patient
• Fortunately they were stopped
• Clearly the obedience to authority was powerful
• Furthermore Hofling found that 10 of the nurses
had already done something similar with another
drug

Zimbardo and the Stanford prison experiment

• The Stanford prison experiment was an
experiment lead by Phillip Zimbardo
between the 14th and 20th august 1971
• It was an attempt to understand the
psychological affects of becoming a prisoner
or prison guard
• The us military had funded it in order to
discover the relationship between the
personnel and prisoners

The experiment
• Zimbardo selected 12 out
75 students to become
prisoners
• Another 12 were selected
out of the same 75 to be
guards
• Zimbardo himself would
be the superintendent
• Local authorities were
also involved including
the police department

The experiment
• Mock arrests were
carried out on the
prisoners and they were
put through the same
process as real
criminals
• They were led then in
various states to a
mock prison set up
underneath Stanford
university

The experiment
• The guards were equipped with
clothing fitting the roll khaki shirt
and black jeans, mirrored
sunglasses were also worn in
order to prevent eye contact,
guards also had access to
weapons
• On the other hand prisoners
were given clothing the didn`t fit
and was mocking, they also
were given a number tag which
replaced their name, chains
were also worn around their
ankles to display that they are
prisoners

The experiment
• The purpose of equipping
each group differently
was to enforce their roles,
empowering guards
whilst degrading and
dehumanising the
prisoners
• It was to simulate the
effects of a real prison but
there is much debate
about this

How the prison worked
Guards
• Would be worked in shifts
of 3 each for 8 hours
• After their shifts they could
leave the prison
• Was being worked on the
basis that all the prisoners
could be controlled with
only 3 guards
• Extra guards could be
brought on early or kept on

Prisoners
• Were confined day and night
24/7 to their cells
• They were fed basic meals,
poor clothing and sanitation
too
• Cells were hard concrete
• Only allowed to move as the
guards permitted them too
• Were addressed by their
number at all times

Day 1 and 2
• Day 1 passed with no events
• At the start of day 2 there was
rioting inside the prison, with
prisoners disobeying the guards
and barricading themselves
inside their cells
• In response the guards teamed
up bringing on extra guards and
using fire extinguishers to break
the riot
• The guards used physiological
controls in the form of a privilege
cell, but failed as inmates refused
to use it in order to conform with
other prisoners

• Prisoners started to show signs
of madness after 36 hours
• This came in the form of
uncontrollable rage
• Guards started to force
prisoners to count off their
numbers repeatedly to enforce
the idea that their numbers were
their new identities
• Guards used punishments such
as beatings and physical
exercise to encourage prisoners
to learn their “new identities”

Day 3 and 4
• Sanitary conditions started to
decline rapidly
• Guards refused to allow
prisoners to urinate or defecate
and as a punishment would
prevent them from empty the
sanitation bucket
• Further punishments were
being brought in such as the
removal of mattresses so that
prisoners had to sleep on the
floor , or else forcing prisoners
to sleep naked as a form of
humiliation and dehumanisation

•

•

•

On the fourth day there was a
talk about attempting escape
by prisoners
Zimbardo and the guards tried
to move them to a more
secure location but local
authorities wanted no further
involvement
As a result guards continued to
escalate their punishments to
try and keep order

The rest of the experiment
•
•

•

•

Guards continued to escalate their
sadistic behaviour
This can be seen in the treatment
of the prisoners , for example when
one prisoner complained about the
conditions of other prisoners
guards increased the abuse each
received
When another refused to eat his
privilege meal guards put him
inside a cupboard with no light and
locked him In there
To further control the whole
prisoners were made to kick the
cupboard and scream numbers at it

•

•

•

Guards refused to stop it until
all prisoners gave there
blankets up
Guards at this point showed
definite signs of sadistic
behaviour
Zimbardo ended the
experiment after only 6 days
after Christina Maslach
questioned the morality of the
experiment, out of 50 who had
seen the experiment she was
only one to object to it

The results
• The results are one of the
most controversial in history
and many argue and critic
the conclusions of the
experiment
• Under todays new ethical
laws Zimbardo experiment
would be illegal, these new
laws were mainly brought in
because of this experiment
and the questions and
issues it raised

The results
•

•

•

•

The experiment showed the
impressionability and obedience
of individuals when provided
with a legitimizing ideology,
social and institutional support
...
Unfortunately, he has
already planted the bombs and they are scheduled to go off in a
short time
...
The
authorities cannot make him divulge the location of the bombs
by conventional methods
...
In exasperation, some high level official
suggests torture
...
would it also be morally justifiable to torture
the mad bomber’s innocent wife if that is the only way to make
him talk?

• Nialls answer:
• Do the torture and if its needed torture his wife,
hundreds are at risk of dying in minutes and a
quick reaction is needed to save them, torture is
illegal so responsibility will need to be accepted
later but for now you must do it in order to save
the people in danger
• Torturing his innocent wife is needed wrong but
necessary if it saves hundreds, I choose to save
the majority and sacrifice one terrorist and
potentially one innocent, I would accept
responsibility later

Personal decision making
• Personal decision making is about
deciding for yourself what you want to do
• In a group this can be difficult and a
personal decision in agreement with or
against the group is done by an individual
alone
• Although the group may be unconsciously
deciding the individuals decision

Ethics
• Ethics are basically what you consider to be appropriate
behaviour and is based upon perceived good and evil
• This dictates what behaviour is correct or incorrect and
each society has different ethics
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