Asch Conformity Test were tests by Solomon Eliot Asch (wikipedia link) to see how suggestible people were to the crowd around them.

How the test worked

• The test subject was sat with a number of actors (unknown to the subject)

• The subject and actors were given a piece of paper with 4 lines drawn on it

  • Two were the same length

  • Two were different lengths

• Sometimes actors gave truthful answers

• Sometimes actors were instructed to give false answers

Outcome

About 1/3 of the subjects gave obviously false answers in a particular repetition. Over the course of 18 repetitions, about 75% of subjects gave a false answer.

The test sought to show that people go along with the crowd. It only showed this partially, and wasn’t true for everyone.

Further reading

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments