Would the Solomon Asch Conformity experiment work in a classroom setting?
1 Answer
In many ways....
Explanation:
With regards to classroom behaviour. If the rest of the class is behaving "well" then the individual that may want to "mess around" will be less likely to disrupt a lesson. It also works with the fact that when a teacher tells you something is the "right" answer you are less likely to dispute it especially if the rest of the class agrees. One other example is when you don't put your hand up to ask for help. This is because like in Asch's study you may not want to seem like the only one that doesn't know what they are doing/doesn't know the answer. However, if you see that someone else has displayed the same behaviour of putting up their hand to ask a question or has disrupted a class means that you are more likely to display the same behaviour as you will now not seem so "stupid".
Also the fact that you may wear uniform to school means that you are more likely to conform to the "norms" of the school and behave like everyone else rather than an individual. it means that you are more likely to conform to school rules no matter how unfair you see them. It is a way of controlling the behaviour of pupils at school and possibly even out of school e.g when they are walking home and if they "misbehave" a person is more likely to report them to the school as they will know which school they come from meaning that pupils are still conforming to most school rules even though they are no longer within the vicinity of the school.
