Attitudinal Conformity and Anonymity

Past research has shown that surveillance, unanimity of others,and ambiguous stimuli all contribute to conformity. This studysought to determine whether people will conform to a group theyidentify with even in the absence of all three contributingconditions. Using college students as subjects, the researcherposed as a pollster asking for responses to six statements onpublic issues. The falsified results of an earlier "nationalcollege sample" were used as the majority consensus stimulus.A written questionnaire was administered in private, and thenplaced in a locked ballot box. This study found no evidenceof conformity, suggesting that when people have definite attitudes,and when others are not unanimous in their opinions, the socialpressures produced by surveillance are necessary in order toproduce conformity