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Asch Discussion Questions

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Ch 3 Questions Whenever possible use concrete examples not found in the book. 1. Explain in detail the two reasons why people often refuse to believe their own eyes in the Asch experiment. Naturally, human beings are herd animals. Human nature is to go with the rest of the ‘herd’ and give into peer pressure. This is the first reason why people often refuse to believe what they are seeing in the Asch experiment. People will often simply go along with the group, even if it is going directly against their own judgment. For example, you are drinking at a party only because it is what everyone else is doing. The second reason has to do with the information. If many people think or do something, their actions and thoughts convey what is the correct information for you to have. An example that has happened to me, is when I change my answer in class because I got a different answer than everyone else. 2. Explain how government propaganda can be an effective nudge. Often people have a strong distrust of bureaucrats and will be hesitant to listen to them. If the government were to have someone like Lebron James talk about the negative sides of marijuana, it would have a much greater effect than if a politician were to give the same speech. James is not a bureaucrat, and therefore people are more likely to listen to …show more content…

Due to this, they will go along with it. It is also described as “no one believes, but everyone thinks everyone believes”. Everyone is thinking that the majority of people in the group agree with the norm. If everyone has this mindset then nobody will speak up, as they are afraid of being the minority. For example, a child is being bullied, but nobody watching does anything. Since no one else is speaking out, you think that everyone else must agree with the bullying. Because of this, you won't speak

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