In 1951, a man by the name of Solomon Asch performed a psychological experiment to examine the phenomenon of conformity. Specifically, Asch studied how a group majority — what “everyone” was doing — influenced what an individual would do. Would an individual make a choice that was obviously incorrect, and perform well below their true talent, if it meant conforming to the group?
Asch did this gathering a group of 12 people. 11 of them were actors, and the final one was the test subject. All were college-aged white males. All 12 were presented with two cards — one card with a single line, and the other card with three lines of varying lengths.