Milgram Experiment and Asch Conformity Experiment in Psychology

PSYCHOLOGY 1
Psychology
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PSYCHOLOGY 2
The shock of how the German soldiers could have been influenced to obey authority that led to
the execution of Nazi even beyond moral consciousness led to Milgram experimenting with his
studies in psychology that provided some clues that led to Milgram experiment (Milgram
Experiment, 2013). A sample of 40 males between the age of 20 and 50 were used for the
experiment where the aim was to establish whether people learn correctly when subjected to
punishment. It is fascinating that 40 years later, the Milgram experiment is still taught in schools.
According to Milgram, it was established that people went correct in answering questions as the
shock intensity increased.65% of the volunteers gave the maximum voltage following the
commands from the instructor.
With the Asch conformity experiment, it involved a dozen of people placed in a room to
validate which of the three lines was similar to the standard line (Asch Conformity
Experiment, 2012). The results were shocking as all agreed on what the group said despite one
knowing that the answer was wrong. Only one was a real subject the rest were programmed to
give the wrong answers. Distortion of one’s judgement was identified as one of the factors that
leads one to accept conformity. Distortion at the level of response also leads to compliance.
Informational conformity makes one think that the group is right. Normative conformity makes
one believe that the group will disapprove if someone is deviant. People will deny what they see
and submit to group pressure.
In the past natural selection was the slogan where it is the strongest species that survived,
and this was known as survival for the fittest (Richard Dawkins on Altruism and The
Selfish Gene, 2012). People and animals are vehicles that pass on the genes, once the genes
are passed holders of gene become extinct. It is the genes that look out for themselves that
survive, and these are known as selfish genes. Selfish genes become altruistic when animals bind