Tag Archives: Majority Influence

Asch (1955) – Opinions and Social Pressure – Conformity Experiment

Asch, S. E. (1955) ‘Opinions and Social Pressure’, Scientific American 193 (5), 31-5.

Background

This is the second study we will be looking at from the ‘reaching a verdict’ section of ‘reaching a verdict’, as part of your OCR A2 Forensic Psychology course. It is further categorised into ‘Majority Influence

In this classic social psychology experiment Solomon Asch looked at conformity: particularly the influence of the majority on the minority.

This is one of the most influential and well-known studies in Psychology. It looks at conformity, which of course means that this study was conducted from a Social Psychological perspective. However, as this is from the Forensic Section of your OCR A2 Psychology exam, then we need to consider it from a forensic perspective. In this case how to do juries come to either a unanimous or majority decision.

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