... topics would shift towards consensus reached by the group. "That social influences shape every person's practises, judgements and beliefs is a truism to which anyone will readily assent." -Asch, 1955, p.31 The notion that individuals beliefs and actions are affected by groups with which they interact is considered foundational and indisputable by most social psychologists (Demarzo, Vayanos & Zwiebel, 2001). Social conformity is defined as the acceptance of unwritten beliefs, thoughts and actions held by the society in which they exist (Carlson & Buskist, 1997). Experimental research in the area has a history that dates back as far as Sherif (1935), with his groundbreaking research using the autokinetic effect1 while studying the convergence of judgement in human opinion during group situations (Baron, Vandello, Brunsman, 1996, Sherif, 1935). Sherif's experiment involved a subject, first individually describing how far a light had apparently moved in a dark room, over 100 trials. This was ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now