"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Allan N. Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. Updated: Apr 14th 2009

Are you a "man," a nonconformist, in the way that Emerson speaks of? We Americans pride ourselves in being individualistic, independent and nonconformist. We prize our freedom to choose what we want to do and when we want to do it. We are convinced that it is more important to do the right thing than to go along with the majority.

However, during the 1950's an experiment was done that revealed the truth that many of us are more conformist in our behavior than we like to admit to ourselves or to other people. Specifically, there were a series of experiments done called the "Asch Conformity Experiments."

Solomon Asch was a psychologist who, during the decade of the 1950's wanted to demonstrate the power that groups exert over our thinking and behavior.