E300Spring2013

social influences shape every person's practices, judgments and beliefs

social sciences take their departure from the observation of the profound effects that groups exert on their members.

Asch told his colleagues that his idea to study conformity was brought about by his childhood experiences in Poland. He recalls being seven years old and staying up for his first Passover night. He recalls seeing his grandmother pour an extra glass of wine. When he asked who the glass of wine was for, she said that it was for the prophet Elijah. He then asked her whether he would really take a sip from the glass and his uncle assured him that he would. His uncle told him to watch very closely when the time came. "Filled with a sense of suggestion and expectation" Asch "thought he saw the level of wine in the cup drop just a bit." [12] Thus, early in life, Asch succumbed to conformity, which fostered his idea to investigate conformity later in life.