Solomon Asch was a social psychologist famous for his experiments in conformity. In 1962 he collaborated with Candid Camera, a TV show, to show just how easy it is to reverse an innocuous social norm: the direction one stands in an elevator.
Does it still work? Watch this University of South Florida replication:
Asch did many such experiments, including showing that people will agree with others when asked a simple question, even if they suspect everyone else is wrong. The implications are obvious. Social pressure is incredibly powerful and we’ll do things that seem pretty bizarre just to fit in. How one stands in an elevator, of course, is a trivial matter and has almost no consequences short of feeling funny. Imagine how much we’ll be willing to do when the consequences are even a little bit greater.
For more great social psychology: entering a theater full of bikers, doing nothing, change blindness, norm breaching, Milgram’s obedience experiment (plus the original flyer).
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 13
Doug — June 15, 2012
"Imagine how much we’ll be willing to do when the consequences are even a little bit greater." Of course, the other way to interpret such things is that it is precisely *because* it is trivial that people turn around. We walk around all day entering situations and picking up on subtle clues from others about what is going on. We generally trust that they are not trying to trick us, because generally that is true, especially when it comes to things like body orientation. The experiment works partly (though not entirely) not because it is an example of common social pressure, but because it is a completely uncommon example of it. A lot of this literature seems to conflate people being confused about a breach in normality where they are unsure what is going on with the social pressure to accept something they *know* not to be true.
Phil Gonzales — June 15, 2012
In Junior High, I was subjected to the "Everyone agrees on the wrong answer" experiment. I was asked to leave the room - presumably because I'd forgotten to do my homework of something - and when I came back in, the class was asked to identify the longest line drawn on the board by raising their hands. Of course, everyone agreed that the second longest line was the longest and I felt weird and raised my hand along with everyone else because - I dunno - maybe I was missing something.
But, here's the weird thing. I KNEW THE EXPERIMENT WAS GOING ON! I had been tipped off to it by my sister who had had the same class and was completely aware that they were going to choose the wrong answer and IT STILL WORKED! Like a charm.
I don't know what this means, but it shook me up. Still does.
decius — June 15, 2012
I'd like to see studies where people are pressured into either agreeing with something they believe is inaccurate, or changing their social norms. With actual explicit pressure, rather than simply being subjected to people who have been coached to break all the norms, including the signals used to show that you are acting unusually.
Teresa Rebecca Cunningham — June 16, 2012
I have to think that it's the trivial nature of the pressured behavior that make people accept it. Which way we face in an elevator doesn't defy our firmly held beliefs or morals.
I'd like to see the experiment repeated with something people would consider amoral instead of non-standard. Maybe a line in a coffeeshop where whenever the barista looked away the person ordering (the plants) stole from the tip jar. Would the last in line (the subject) also steal?
Conuly — June 16, 2012
The real question is this: Which way do you face in an elevator with two doors? Do you face towards the door you entered from? Do you face towards the door you'll exit from? Do you face towards the door the other passengers are facing?
Guest — June 17, 2012
the buttons and the floor number is usually towards the front of the elevator. facing the back of the elevator when you are in it is equivalent to facing away from the elevator doors when you are going to get into it. it is not an irrelevant social norm, it just makes sense.
Allison — June 18, 2012
I can't see the videos today. I just updated flash - don't know what the issue is.
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