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Social conformity in the 1950
Social conformity of the 1950s
Social conformity of the 1950s
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Solomon Asch performed the line-experiment studies in the 1950’s as a social experiment. The purpose of this experiment was to demonstrate the power of conformity in a group of people. He wanted to see if other would give in to the pressure of conformity even if the answer was wrong and if they do give in then how quickly would it happen? This study had many trials, but each trial consisted of six participants. Participants were told they were taking part in an experiment about visual judgment. Participants one through five had been told what to say while participant six had to use their own judgment to answer the questions. The participants are seated in order one through six; number one will give their answer first and then it will proceed
From the outside, the 1950’s was a great time for America. Society revolved around the idea of America being a middle-class nation. Americans worshipped conformity, and materialism satisfied the need to conform. However, the prosperity of materialistic America hid the growing, numerous problems. Dissent in any way was not tolerated; all injustice was stifled by a fear of difference. In “Fifties Society,” Alan Brinkley discusses the truth of the era; that the fear of nonconformity was hidden by the seemingly prosperous middle-class nation. Brinkley argues the Beat movement and “feminine mystique” show that the people who did not fit in reveal the true colors of 1950’s society.
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.
We Americans have a fondness of looking back to certain times with bouts of nostalgia, clutching closely the burred images of better off and more secure conditions. We seek to revive those past years, hoping to cure all of our current societal ills. Why cannot we bring them back? The economy was good, and the family was happy, we say.
The principle of conformity is examined by a group of subjects, each subject has to tell the instructor which line do they think is the same as the standard line. Four subjects would say the same wrong answer, since they are apart of the experiment. Then, the subject that was not apart of the experiment would either go along with the group or say the correct answer.
The 1950s seemed like a perfect decade. The rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class, thus allowing more Americans to enjoy the luxuries of life. The rise of these suburbs also allowed the middle class to buy houses with land that used to only be owned by more wealthy inhabitants. Towns like Levittown-one of the first suburbs- were divided in such a way that every house looked the same (“Family Structures”). Any imperfections were looked upon as unfavorable to the community as a whole. Due to these values, people today think of the 1950s as a clean cut and model decade. This is a simplistic perception because underneath the surface, events that took place outside the United States actually had a direct effect on our own country’s history. The rise of Communism in Russia struck fear into the hearts of the American people because it seemed to challenge their supposedly superior way of life.
In order to calculate/conclude their hypothesis they had to run an experiment by finding children to participate in the study. They found eight children, among this group they had five males and three females participating. The children were observed from the age of six months old all the way to when
The 1960’s and early 1970’s were a time that eternally changed the culture and humanity of America. It was a time widely known for peace and love when in reality; many minorities were struggling to gain a modicum of equality and freedom. It was a time, in which a younger generation rebelled against the conventional norms, questioning power and government, and insisting on more freedoms for minorities. In addition, an enormous movement began rising in opposition to the Vietnam War. It was a time of brutal altercations, with the civil rights movement and the youth culture demanding equality and the war in Vietnam put public loyalty to the test. Countless African-Americans, Native-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, women, and college students became frustrated, angry, and disillusioned by the turmoil around them.
The late 1900s were a time of tremendous cultural change and instability in American history, but this change did not begin until after the relative unison of the late forties and fifties. After World War II (1939-1945) ended, a desire for normality led to large scale compliance to social constructs, with people reentering existing expectations such as men working, women tending the homes, and minorities functioning only as second class citizens. Because of these social barriers' reestablishment, conformity was simply the norm.
As World War Two came to a close, a new American culture was developing all across the United States. Families were moving away from crowded cities into spacious suburban towns to help create a better life for them during and after the baby boom of the post-war era. Teenagers were starting to become independent by listing to their own music and not wearing the same style of clothing as their parents. Aside from the progress of society that was made during this time period, many people still did not discuss controversial issues such as divorce and sexual relations between young people. While many historians regard the 1950s as a time of true conservatism at its finest, it could really be considered a time of true progression in the American way of life.
In 1951, Solomon Asch carried out several experiments on conformity. The aim of these studies was to investigate conformity in a group environment situation. The purpose of these experiments was to see if an individual would be swayed by public pressure to go along with the incorrect answer. Asch believed that conformity reflects on relatively rational process in which people are pressured to change their behaviour. Asch designed experiments to measure the pressure of a group situation upon an individual judgment. Asch wanted to prove that conformity can really play a big role in disbelieving our own senses.
. . 'A'." This shows how we cave to conformity pressures, and there are multiple factors that encourage conformity in a group of people. Unanimity of the majority is a major factor. If everyone in a group agrees, that leads to extreme social pressure, however if even one person defects from the rest, then amount of social pressure drops drastically. This is the power of an ally. If one person is willing to challenge the group, they also encourage those who are unsure to also join the rebellion. If there are one or two people in a group, there is little pressure. However, when there are three people in a group, then the pressure dramatically increases. Self-esteem, unsurprisingly plays a large role in conforming in the Asch experiment. More conformity is present when the group has a high social status, too. Although the components that allow us to agree with others in a group are many, there will always be individuals who are independents. Despite the powerful pressures in their atmosphere, some can resist it, and stand their ground, even when the group gives a correct answer, and they give the wrong
Solomon Asch’s experiment consisted of gathering a few students into a room and showing them the two set of lines, asking them to find the line that matches with the first exhibit. All of the students except one knew that Asch was conducting an experiment. For the first few rounds of the experiment, everyone provided the correct answer, but soon the majority of participants started giving false answers. This put the actual test subject in the group in a predicament. Only a fourth of test subjects refused to give incorrect answers, sticking to their own opinions.
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth” John F. Kennedy. This quote is important because conformity can kill everyone’s creativity. It will trap people in other’s people’s thoughts and actions. Media, Social Groups, and the Government can all trap people in and make people conform to many things that we might not believe in because of society.
In accordance with the above experiment, Crutchfield ’55, carried out a similar experiment because he felt that that Asch’s face to face experiment could not provide a stable enough conclusion for conformity.
All the students were asked permission to use their photograph in the study being done. The students being used had glasses or normal eye sight and had no neurological disorders. The participants had gone through two neurological testing to screen them and see their ability to recognize unfamiliar faces. Once the screening was done there was 44 of the participants who where part of the control group, all the participants had no problem with recognizing unfamiliar faces. Whereas the 14 other participants were the group who had seem to have the most difficulty with recognizing unfamiliar faces. They would be the ones whose scores would be tested more thoroughly.