Which line is the longest? It’s obviously “B”, right? Or is it not so obvious? On February 25, 2017, I decided to journey to Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, to test out this famous psychological experiment for myself.

To conduct the experiment, I stood at an intersection in a crowded place in the mall and attempted to stop anyone I could. Once I had their attention, I would “randomly” choose my three confederates (actors) from groups of people passing by. I then showed them all a card with this picture to the left and asked them simply: “Which line is the longest?” Now, you might be thinking, “What kind of social experiment is that? It’s obviously B,” but, believe it or not, for a lot of people it wasn’t that obvious. Ahead of time I told all of my actors to agree on the wrong answer – C – to find out if anyone would think twice about their instincts. They all had set lines and character traits, such as Davide Williams playing the rude, stereotypical teenager, Kalia Geary portraying the “loner” archetype, and Gözel Jumaberdiyewa acting as the quiet, polite passerby. As each of these performers all confidently said the wrong answer, the subject of the experiment began questioning their own judgment. If the person answered different from the rest of the group, the actors were instructed to look at them in a confused, slightly belittling manner. This tactic of judgment and peer pressure worked wonders. Out of the 50 people we stopped, only 18 of them picked the correct answer. You read that correctly: only 36% of people trusted themselves enough to go against the crowd. Three people responded, “I don’t know,” and a whopping 29 people conformed and responded with the incorrect answer. Why?

This experiment is derived from self-confidence and a person’s need to fit in. When answering, they don’t want someone of authority (the conductor asking the experiment) or the people around them (the confederates) to think that they’re stupid. In the real test, Asch used different types of people to pressure the subject – such as altering race, gender, and age. Since my mini-version was asked to a smaller amount of people in an unchanging environment, it does remain less accurate than his. And though it may not be as scholarly, it is an interesting look into the psychology of decision making. Based off of insecurity and the “bandwagon effect,” the Asch Conformity Test shows just how easily our judgment can be swayed, and how quickly we begin to doubt ourselves when faced with conflicting opinions. The moral of the story is simple: Don’t doubt yourself. Don’t let your own opinions be moved aside for the sake of pleasing the crowd, and, when faced with a difficult decision, don’t depend too heavily on others to influence you one way or another. After all, what would this world be like if everyone was too afraid to speak up against something they disagreed with, to possibly seem lower or less intelligent in front of the crowd? One thing is for sure - there probably wouldn’t be many journalists. 

Special thanks to: Kalia “Kale” Geary, Davide “Dynamite” Williams, and Gözel “Gazebo” Jumaberdiyewa – you made this all possible