In her essay "Group Minds," Doris Lessing discusses our paradoxical ability to call ourselves individuals and our inability to realize that groups define and influence us. We, as humans, hold individualism in the highest regard yet fail to realize that groups diminish our individuality. Lessing writes, "when we're in a group, we tend to think as that group does... but we also find our thinking changing because we belong to a group" (p. 334). Groups have the tendency to generate norms, or standards for behavior in certain situations. Not following these norms can make you stand out and, therefore, groups have the ability to influence our thoughts and actions in ways that are consistent with the groups'. Lessing's essay helps set the context to understand the experiments that social psychologists Solomon Asch, Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo conducted to explain conformity and obed

Milgram's study undermined the theory that only the most sadistic individuals would submit to such cruelty. His findings showed that, "two-thirds of this studies participants fall into the category of 'obedient' subjects, and that they represent ordinary people" (p. 352). Milgram concluded that when a person is obeying orders he "views himself as the instrument... and no longer regards himself as responsible for his action" (p. 354). Milgram's experiment proved that when doing a job as instructed by an authority figure the feelings of duty and personal emotion are separated. Responsibility shifts in the minds of the subordinate from himself/herself to the authority figure. There is a purpose for the actions or goals of the authority, and the subordinate is depended upon to meet those goals.

Through their experiments, Asch, Milgram and Zimbardo have proved that social influences can have a profound effect on individuality. One's desire to be accepted can make them unaware of conformity or obedience to authority. The problem lies not only within the group, but also the individual's acceptance of authority without question.

Zimbardo, Philip. "The Stanford Prison Experiment." In L. Behrens & L. J. Rosen (Eds). Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. (pp.363-375). New York: Longman Press.

Zimbardo's experiment demonstrated the power of social situations to distort personal identity. What social value did this test serve? Zimbardo proved that social roles might affect behavior more than personality in certain situation

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