The Pressure to Fit In: Testing Conformity in Middle Schoolers

Overview

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment was to test how different genders, ages, and grades reacted to being influenced to choose an incorrect answer. The hypothesis was that when influenced, females would be influenced more than males, younger subjects would be influenced more than older subjects, and sixth grade subjects would be influenced. Methods/Materials The experiment was conducted by asking a test subject to participate in a "visual perception test". The test was comprised of six different large cards, each with a single line on one half of the card and three lines on the other half. Only one of the three lines matched the first line. The goal of the test was to select which of the three lines matched the length of the first line. In each test the test subject was joined by four of my assistants who were posing as test subjects. For each card the group was asked to select the correct answer. The assistants attempted to influence the test subject to answer incorrectly for three of the test cards. I recorded whether the test subject answered correctly or incorrectly, and repeated this process for all test subjects. Results The results of this experiment were that overall, the test subjects were influenced to answer incorrectly, the males were more influenced than females, the older subjects were more influenced than younger, and the seventh graders was more influenced than the other grades. Conclusions/Discussion My hypothesis was not supported because the seventh graders were most influenced, males were influenced more than females, and older age students (14) were the most influenced. My conclusion is that people should be aware of how common peer pressure is, and how easy it is to influence people into doing something wrong or incorrect, even if the question/decision is simple and answer is almost clearly stated.

Competition history

• CSEF 2018 Behavioral & Social Sciences · Entry J0423

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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