Asch Experiment

American Social Conformity Experiment

SUMMARY: The seemingly benign Asch conformity line experiment repeatedly confirmed that most people will “go along with the crowd.” It demonstrates that people are susceptible to conforming to group norms even when those norms are clearly incorrect. Asch found that 75% of us are easily influenced to not believe what our own senses are telling us to be true. This experiment has significantly impacted our understanding of social influence and conformity, highlighting the powerful influence of group pressure on individual behavior. It has helped researchers to understand the importance of social norms and group dynamics in shaping our beliefs and behaviors and has had a significant impact on the study of social psychology.¹

On April 5, 2025, with the coordination of the main stream media and large liberal/Democratic/globalist stakeholders, millions of ordinary Americans confirmed the findings of the Asch Conformity line experiment.

These duped Americans gathered at thousands of locations across America to protest the actions of President Donald Trump and his efficiency expert Elon Musk.

It was exciting for them. They had fun, even in the rain.² They felt they were part of the group championed by their favorite mainstream media (MSM) anchors and their favorite late night comedians.³ But what did they accomplish?

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION
Most people believe that their behavior is a result of their thoughts and values. However, as demonstrated in the Asch Experiment, our behavior is easily influenced by others. Most importantly: our behavior modifies our thoughts and values.

Influencing behavior is the most effective and easiest way to change thoughts and culture. Consequently, all this theatrical display accomplished was reinforcing the “we’re in this together” attitude of the Democratic base in order to get out the vote for anyone, no matter how corrupt or unqualified they may be, so long as they were not Republican.

In other words, despite the generalized pleas not to be polarized and to love one another, the purpose of the April 5 “Hands-Off” event was to polarize our country even more, and we are not even half way through the first year of Trump’s four year term of office.

Readers of this substack know that I do not like Trump. But I also admit that despite making a lot of very bad decisions, he makes some very good decisions. In other words, I do not engage in the black-and-white thinking common among Cluster B Personalities.⁴

There are shades of gray in most of us and no one is either always all good or all bad - certainly not any politician or high-level businessman. Generally good people can do bad things and even really bad people can make good decisions. Let God judge Trump’s soul. In the meantime, he is our president and he sits in the Oval Office, a position which deserves respect.

HYPORCISY
As bad as the intentional psychological manipulation of the American people on April 5th to become more polarized and hateful for political gain is, what most upset me about the Hands Off rally was:

• Where were these people during the lockdowns that began in the first Trump presidency and continued through the Biden presidency?

• Where were the freedom of speech protests on behalf of the scientists, doctors, and others who protested the lockdowns and the protocols that censored and censured epidemiologists like those who signed the Great Barrington Declaration?

• Where were the protests for the “non-essential” workers who lost their incomes, and in many cases their small businesses and their homes?

• Where was the outrage over the loss of rights for the marginalized and demonized unvaccinated neighbors, friends and families who were unable to participate in society?

• Where were the impassioned speeches on behalf of those denied life-saving treatments in hospitals because of their unvaccinated status?

• Where were the emotionally wrenching stories of those who reluctantly complied with the vaccine mandates and were seriously injured or even killed?

ECONOMY
I predicted that Trump would tank the economy when he was elected in 2016 and took my small 401k out of stocks during his first year, an obvious mistake. I stayed out of the market during the dishonest Biden presidency, seeing fault lines I feared would lead to a crash. So I am not surprised by the economic tanking, now. What it means to me personally is not pretty… but I will not have blood on my hands by endorsing the “liberal” fantasy of politicized medical mandates which profit the financial health of various high-level players at the expense of population health.

Dance with the Devil: Love in the Age of Covid by Maggie Russo, Atmosphere Press. Feb. 27, 2022.

1. Critics of Asch claimed the 1951 experiment was reflective of the times - a time of high conformity among its youthful participants and McCarthy-style anti-communist sentiment. But haven’t we seen how quickly we all gave up our constitutional rights in 2020 and 2021 with the lockdowns and “jab or job” mandates? IMO: The critics of Asch are falling into the same elitist trap to which we are all vulnerable, i.e. believing that we are smarter and more sophisticated than earlier generations.

2. “Emotional arousal” is the term used by psychologists to describe an effect that skews our information-processing, memory and decision-making. Narratives and participation in events are easily manufactured to create emotional arousal. This is psychological abuse.
- “Emotional arousal is a state of heightened emotional response, often associated with psychological abuse. Psychological abuse involves the use of verbal and social tactics to control someone's way of thinking, such as gaslighting, which can lead to confusion and doubt about one's reality.”- AI generated

3. An even bigger “conformity” experiment was orchestrated when we were ordered to stay home and not socialize for months at a time. We were all locked up glued to the TV in the Covid spring 2020 where the messaging was intended to scare us into compliance (emotional arousal). Essentially all of us followed the lock-down protocols, and 80% of Americans got at least one Covid vaccine because we were told by the talking heads on the boob-tube that it was the “right thing to do” and that everyone had to do it because “no one is safe” unless we all obey, i.e. conform to the social norms from our only constant companion.

4. Splitting is the term used by psychologists to describe thought patterns without nuance, good-bad duality. Splitting is a maladaptive way of dealing with cognitive dissonance and reinforcing cognitive distortion. Borderline Personality, Narcissists, Psychopaths and Histrionic Personality are the Cluster B personalities.