In a variation of his standard experiment, Solomon Asch (1957) found that when participants could write their responses on a piece of paper, conformity dropped dramatically. This finding indicates that participants exhibited __________, not __________, during the standard experiment.
A) public compliance; private acceptance
B) private acceptance; public compliance
C) logical reasoning; mindless conformity
D) mindless conformity; logical reasoning

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The finding suggests that participants were more likely to conform when they had to express their opinions publicly (public compliance) but did not necessarily change their private beliefs to match the group (private acceptance). Writing responses privately allowed them to express their true beliefs without the pressure to conform publicly.

In a Variation of His Standard Experiment, Solomon Asch (1957)