So welcome, everyone.
My name's Ron, and your task is to choose
the line on the right
that matches the line on the left.
All right, this seems like an easy enough task:
which line on the right is the same length
as the one on the left?
The answer is clearly three.
[bell dings]
One.
- One. - One.
Why is everyone saying one?
Are their eyes not working?
Have we just discovered some new type of illusion?
No, the answer is,
we paid them to lie.
[electronic music]
♪ ♪
Today, we are going to be demonstrating
a very famous psychological experiment
known as the "Asch experiment."
This experiment tests conformity
and whether or not a person
will say something incorrect
simply because everyone else is.
What matters more?
Being right or fitting in?
[calm music]
♪ ♪
We have five professional actors
that have been instructed
to do as we say.
Often, they will be lying
about what they think the answer is.
But in position number five,
a real participant who has no idea
what's going on will be seated.
Now, their task is to match the length of the line
on the left with one of the lines on the right.
But what if everyone else in the room
gave the wrong answer?
Would you be bold enough to stick out
and say what you saw,
or would you just fit in
because it's easier or less uncomfortable?
Well, let's find out.
So welcome, everyone. My name's Ron.
Your task is to choose the line on the right
that matches the line on the left.
I'll just call on you individually,
you know, in order, one through six.
The calm before the storm.
Okay, so let's begin.
The first few times,
we're gonna have the actors
say the correct answer
to gain the trust of our subject.
The correct answer here is three.
Three.
- Number three. - Number three.
Three.
- One. - One.
- Number one. - Number one.
Number one.
Now they're all gonna start lying.
The correct answer is three.
Let's see what our subject does.
One.
Pretty quickly, she appears to be confused.
One.
Um, okay, number one.
Number one.
Three...
One.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
You can see participant five
closing one eye, then the other,
trying to figure out why everyone's wrong.
But she's not going along with them.
Again, the correct answer is three.
[bell dings] Let's see what our subject does.
Number one.
Yeah, number one.
Number one.
Three?
She's sticking to her guns,
but she appears to be uncomfortable
opposing the group.
This time, the correct answer is two.
Three.
Number three.
Wow.
Three.
She's falling in line.
Will she do it again?
The correct answer is three.
- One. - One.
- Number one. - Number one.
Number one.
Conformed.
Conformity.
The desire to fit in.
Peer pressure.
These are powerful social forces
that shape our actions and beliefs
and influence how we behave
as individuals
and as a society.
In the original Asch experiments
first carried out by Solomon Asch in 1951,
approximately 75% of subjects
conformed at least once.
One.
Hi, Ron.
Sorry to butt in, guys. My name is Michael.
I just wanted to kind of ask you a few questions
about the study you've been doing.
This is a study on conformity.
And everyone in this room is an actor...
except for you, number five.
Oh, my God!
This is so crazy.
And they've all been instructed
to give the wrong answers
to see if you'll follow along.
- Whoa. - You did say the wrong answer
after everyone else had said the wrong answer.
Why did you do it?
I thought, "There's something going on here.
"I don't know what to do,
so I'm just gonna say what they said."
How did it feel to do that?
It... it felt...
it felt like I was drinking the Kool-Aid, like...
[laughter] - It's very normal.
This study wouldn't be as famous as it was
if it wasn't normal, though it is surprising,
because so many of us would say,
"No, I would always say what's real."
Right. Right.
Would you?
Right, no.
Clearly not all the time, yeah.
All right, thank you very much.
[upbeat synth music]
♪ ♪
People follow the crowd in all kinds of interesting ways,
many of which are pretty funny.
Classical psychological experiments
and hidden camera pranks
often involve people acting together in strange ways
to see if others will conform.
Now, there's nothing inherently irrational
about following the crowd in ways like those.
Conforming can be a form of social lubrication.
It's just easier to do what someone else is doing,
because to break from that norm
would be to slow things down.
If everyone's facing the same way in an elevator,
it's not like you lose your personal sense of identity
by turning along with them.
Instead, you're just going with the flow
and not being awkward.
If I see a bunch of people on the street looking up,
and I decide to look up too,
there's nothing inherently bad about that.
I mean, what it costs for me to look up
is really low compared to the potential harm
that might come from me not seeing an imminent threat.
Sometimes, conformity is harmless.
[laughter]
Even laughter is a form of conformity.
We laugh if something is funny,
but we also tend to laugh
if people around us are laughing,
even if we don't get the joke.
There are a lot of social forces behind this:
politeness, a fear of looking stupid,
and no doubt a desire to conform...
to fit in.
Let's see what happens when there's even more pressure
to see something that's unfunny
as hilarious.
We've invited these people
to participate in a psychological experiment.
But here's the thing:
everyone in this room
is an actor,
except this guy.
He thinks he's just killing time in this waiting room
before the experiment begins.
But this is the experiment,
and that's no joke.
Hey, how's everyone doing today?
[indistinct murmuring]
My name's Michael.
Nice to meet you all.
Thanks for participating.
It's important that everyone be kind of in a chatty mood.
So here's a question:
anyone got some good jokes?
- I have a great one. - Oh, yeah?
Why did the hipster burn his mouth on coffee?
Because he drank it way before it was cool.
[laughter]
- Get it, yeah? - I get it, yeah.
Our subject thinks the real joke is funny,
but keep in mind,
the joke I'm going to tell is complete nonsense.
It's not funny. It's just words.
Everyone but the subject has been instructed to laugh at it.
The question is, will the pressure to conform
make the subject laugh?
Okay, how about this one?
Uh, a giraffe is at the airport
going through the TSA line.
And the security agent says,
"Hey, is this your laptop?"
And the giraffe says,
"I thought you'd never ask."
[laughter]
Oh, my God.
You guys have never heard that before?
- No, never. - No.
- It's pretty famous. - I didn't.
This is a classic example of conformity.
Even when the crowd acts in a way that makes no sense,
the need to fit in is still very strong.
Okay, how about this one?
Uh, two penguins are driving in a car.
The driver says, "Hey, could you change the radio station?"
And the other one says, "No radio. Four wheels."
[laughter]
That was better.
Laughter can be a powerful tool for social conformity,
which is exactly why sitcoms
use canned laughter.
How do you feel about courtin' right now?
Uncle Jake, if there was a pretty girl
on the other side of this house,
I'd jump clean over it. [laughter]
The laugh track entices you at home
to laugh along,
even when a joke might not be that funny.
So will our other subjects feel compelled to laugh
at our meaningless joke?
So a giraffe is at the airport.
And it's in the security line,
and the TSA agent says,
"Is this your laptop?"
And the giraffe says,
"I thought you'd never ask."
[laughter]
"Hey, is this your laptop?"
And the giraffe says,
"I thought you would never ask."
[laughter] - What?
Since our subjects are in a conforming mood...
Oh, my God.
Let's take this a step further.
Hey, I need Katie and Lauren
to come with me for your interview.
- Sure. - Let's see how committed
they are to fitting in.
Will they repeat the nonsensical joke
to another one of our actors?
We were telling jokes earlier.
Should I say the, uh...
- Yes. - The giraffe? Okay.
So...
Hey, uh, Tim, I need you to come with me
for your interview.
Okay. Good. [inaudible]
I guess the joke has to wait.
Yeah. Dude, you tell it.
- You tell it, bro. - Well...
No, you got it. You got it. Say it.
Okay, so the giraffe is in a line...
in a TSA line...
- Okay. - Waiting.
And the... and the agent asks him,
"Is that your laptop?"
And he was like, "I thought you'd never ask."
[percussive beat]
I don't... I don't get it.
♪ ♪
Yeah, it's gonna take you a while to get it.
Okay.
And he says, um,
"I thought you'd never ask."
♪ ♪
What's the funny part?
I don't know. I... I found it funny.
And it's a giraffe. It's not a human.
- And you thought it was funny? - Yeah.
What was the funny part, though?
Like...
I think it was... the funny part was the laptop,
'cause you know how he's so tall?
Hmm.
Do these subjects really think
my meaningless joke is funny?
It's time to let them in on what's really going on.
Everyone here today except for you is an actor.
- Okay. - We have all been instructed
to laugh at that dumb giraffe joke,
which is not even a joke.
It's just a meaningless thing.
And then we see if the one person who isn't in on it,
which in this round was you...
how they respond.
Why did you never say,
"What?"
I think it was people laughing around me,
and I was trying to understand why that was funny.
And then I had to make sense of it in my mind,
and then I think I made it funny to myself.
That process of mental gymnastics
is known as cognitive dissonance.
When you've done something you don't truly believe in,
like laughing just because everyone else did,
you try to come to terms with your behavior
through denial and justification.
It's not a joke; I just made that up, and it's nonsense.
I know, that's why I thought it was funny.
'Cause it just would... make no sense?
Yeah, that's why.
I don't know. That's crazy, though,
'cause it did make me laugh.
[laughing] - Everyone does that.
- Yeah. - It's typical human behavior...
Yeah. It's true, though.
To go with the flow and to keep things moving.
It's about just being a good, social person.
It's definitely a... a conformity thing.
[laughter]
One of the most disappointing and terrifying aspects
of our desire not to stand out
is the bystander effect.
People are less likely to help victims
if other people are around.
One of the most famous examples
is told in Psych 101 classes all over the world.
It's the story of Kitty Genovese,
a woman who was brutally stabbed
and raped in New York City
in 1964.
It was a murder that symbolized
the apathy of many to big city crime.
On a March night back in 1964,
28-year-old bar manager Kitty Genovese
was stabbed to death on a street
in Kew Gardens, Queens.
Police say at least 38 people
heard her screams
but did nothing to help.
The hypothesis was that each and every one of them
assumed someone else would call the police,
so they didn't have to bother to do so themselves.
It wasn't their responsibility,
so the police were never called.
And Kitty died.
[somber music]
But here's the thing:
Kitty's story may not be an example
of conformity,
at least not in the way we normally think,
because most of it was totally untrue.
38 people didn't witness the attack.
As it turns out, the actual number of witnesses
who could have helped and didn't
may have been as few as two,
and people did call the police.
Samuel Hoffman spent three or four minutes on hold
before finally reaching a police dispatcher.
So where did the number 38 come from?
Well, it's theorized that the police commissioner
actually lied to a reporter
about the number of witnesses who did nothing
in order to cover up why the police took so long
to arrive at the scene of the crime.
And the narrative of uncaring New Yorkers
turning a blind eye to a woman's murder
spread around the world,
making front page headlines.
As more and more sources
repeated reports they'd heard,
rather than going back to investigate the truth,
a psychological phenomenon
known as information cascade took place.
An information cascade develops
when people have little information themselves,
so they depend on inferences they can make
based on earlier people's actions.
So the conformity wasn't on the part of the eyewitnesses.
It was in the reporting of the story.
There's a saying in journalism:
"Some stories are too good to check."
[projector whirring]
I'm going to give you this cup
that contains lysergic acid...
100 micrograms.
Clinical trials:
they can be enlightening,
frightening,
dangerous...
It seems to want to take me over too much, you see,
and I don't want to let myself go.
And also the perfect high-stakes setting
to test the power of conformity.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
This is Emma.
She thinks she's taking part
in a group study
to measure the side effects
of a new hallucinogenic drug.
So the drug that you are helping us research today
is NC-47.
Today we're investigating possible side effects.
You know, there've been some audio-visual distortions.
You may see some images behind your eyes...
um, you know, some general feelings of either calmness
or euphoria.
We're trying to examine those a little further
and find out a little bit more about how
this drug is affecting everybody.
Emma is already looking to the rest of the group
for comfort.
Just take a cup, and just hang onto it.
[whispering] Okay.
If everyone else is participating willingly,
it must be okay for her, too.
[laughter]
We're all, like, scared to death.
Okay.
Go.
♪ ♪
But here's the catch:
our subject didn't take a hallucinogenic drug at all.
It was simply a shot of flavored water.
Just relax and concentrate.
We'll give this just a little bit of time
to set in.
It doesn't take long for our actors to feel
the supposed side effects of the so-called drug.
It's like a...
like a line that goes across.
It's almost like I'm looking through a kaleidoscope,
but it's, like, fuzzy.
Will our test subject go along with the group?
Or will she be bold enough to stick out
and say the truth?
It's like a... like a lava lamp sort of thing.
Hmm.
Emma?
Um, I honestly...
I don't see anything. [laughs]
- Mm. - I don't see any shadows,
shapes...
I'm like, "Come on, I want to see a shape."
But I don't see anything, no.
Emma's honesty is making her an outsider.
Notice how she says she wants to feel the side effects,
which would enable her to fit in with the group.
You can all sit down again.
Okay, I want to do the audio test.
We're just gonna go down the line,
and I want you to just say the word "hello."
Here's another opportunity for Emma to conform.
Will she go along with the group
when she sees the actors pretend to experience
an auditory reaction to the alleged drug?
Hello.
Louder.
Um, hello!
And how did that feel? What's your reaction?
I hear, like, a delay.
Like, um...
Yeah, it could be called an echo.
- It's more like a... - Mm-hmm.
Like a reverb or something.
Yup, that's very common.
All right, Ivory.
Hello.
Hello. [laughs]
It's almost like, you know, when you watch a video,
and it's just like... just the tiniest bit out of sync
so you just barely notice it?
Mm-hmm. All right, Emma?
Hello.
Hello?
Hello.
Yeah, it is echoing,
like you had a shot...
like you had a shot of vodka.
- [laughing] - Something like that, like...
Yeah, acute audio distortion is really common.
- Okay. - Here we see a classic example
of conformity.
But is she just trying to fit in
or does she truly believe
she's experiencing side effects now?
- I'm feeling pretty chill. - Ivory?
I feel kind of, like, just relaxed.
I just feel, like, really relaxed.
She's now claiming to feel multiple side effects.
But yeah, no, it's like I...
I had, like, two drinks or something.
Right, and in this moment now,
how do you feel?
- Uh, kind of tired. - Tired.
- Right? - Yeah.
- Am I the only one? - No. [laughs]
Should go, like, nap on that bean bag, yeah.
Emma continues to look to the group
for reassurance that her symptoms
are in line with theirs.
I don't know if I like it.
I can't decide.
You know what I mean?
What do you guys think? I don't know.
Whatever she thinks she's feeling,
she wants to make sure it fits in with the group.
The room is warmer, no?
Yeah.
Would you take this while you were operating a motor vehicle?
No, I don't think so.
Because...
'Cause you need to concentrate on what you're doing.
But I just feel so relaxed.
Here we see an entirely new level of conformity.
Our subject is actually experiencing
physical manifestations due to group pressure.
Other subjects also experienced physical sensations
that they reported in great detail.
Hello.
I hear the echo. I can hear the echo.
So you know an echo would go out, then in?
This is, like, just an in.
I just feel, like, sensation,
like, near my eye and nose area.
I feel like it's definitely getting brighter, though.
Okay, could you say more about the increased brightness?
It's not comfortable to look at the lights, really.
What we're seeing from these subjects
could be a form of informational conformity,
or even what's called
a contact high,
a psychological phenomenon
that occurs when a sober person
comes into contact with someone
who is under the influence of drugs
and begins to manifest the same physical symptoms.
I can now debrief you
on what has been going on.
So none of you took anything
but, uh, water today.
What?
[laughter]
And we're just kind of looking at the way
that groups conform together.
We wanted to see what it would take
to get someone to fall in line with the group.
Did you feel actual changes,
or were you saying some things
just to fit in and not stick out?
No, I felt relaxed, so I don't get...
I can't figure it... I still feel relaxed.
Are you surprised to have heard
that you just drank water?
Yeah.
I definitely feel different.
I actually did hear, yeah, an echo.
The desire to conform is so strong,
the subjects continue to believe
in their manifested symptoms,
even after learning the drug was fake.
I am prone to anxiety attacks, though,
so I felt relaxed.
Well, you should take more of this nothing.
[laughter]
Human society is incredibly complex.
And the dueling forces pushing us to conform
and also to express our individuality
are both necessary.
Other people can influence us in good ways
and in not-so-good ways.
But at the end of the day,
just remember this:
what did the walrus say to the doctor?
Give up?
Cardboard.
[laughter]
Go ahead, laugh.
Everyone's doing it.
You don't want to look like you don't get it, do you?
Good, that's what I thought.
Thanks for laughing,
and as always,
thanks for watching.
[electronic music]
♪ ♪