are+you+a+conformist?

This past week I set up an experiment of sorts where I asked four people to come into a seperate room, containing only myself, one teacher, and two toher students, and I asked these students basic-knowledge questions. What my "subjects" did not know was that the other two students, were purposely answering specific questions incorrectly to try and trick the third person. When my subject entered the room, I handed them a packet of questions and told them I needed all three of the students to agree on an answer (if impossible, I would take a majority "vote"). The questions were as follows: (pink denotes the errors my constants, 1 and 2, made to trick the subjects)
 * Brief Overview:**

1. A two inch tall line on the far left of a box, followed by three options of line heights to match the left one. These measurements were 2 inches, 1.5 inches, and 1.75 inches. (answer, 2 inches) (both chose correct answer)

2. If an apple contains 200 calories, and Jennie has 12 apples in a basket, how many will she have left if Martin eats 600 colories worth of apples? (answer, 9) (2 chose correct answer, 1 answered "8") (2 did the math in their head, while 1 wrote out "work" on paper)

3. Find the error in the following sentence: "Youre not wearing what you wore yesterday!" (answer, You're should be properly punctuated) (both chose correct answer)

4. In what year did "Columbus sail the ocean blue"? (answer, 1492) (both chose correct answer)

5. What is the capitol of Pennsylvania? a. Philly b. Harrisburg c. Duncannon (answer, b) (both chose correct answer)

6. What of the folowing does not involve a net? a. tennis b. fishing c. football (answer, c) (2 chose correct answer, 1 fought that because fishing does not always require a net, the question was invalid)

7. A treble clef staff with a note written in the second space. Question: What note is written in the staff above? a. h b. a c. s (answer, b) (both answered a[h] because they [and I] wanted to see if anybody would remember from middle school msic classes that "h" is not a letter in the musical alphabet)

8. If a man's name is Richard, which of the following is NOT a common nickname? a. Rick b. Rich c. Dick d. They are all proper nicknames. (answer, d) (2 chose correct answer, 1 fought that Rick was not a common nickname) [sometimes, however, 1 and 2 switched roles for this question]

In my first subject, I noticed the following: ~skeptical (they thought they were being tested for a conformity project - which they were- but continued to go along anyway) ~kept complaining about how tired they were everytime they couldn't figure out an answer ~agreed with constant 1 (who is ranked #2 in their graduating class) on the math question ~agreed with constant 1 and 2 (both involved in the music department) on the music question ~"fought" minimally. never defended answers ~"uhh... I don't know! What she said..."
 * Observations:**

My second subject...: ~"Is this that conformity project thing?" (in Psych II they were recently taught this idea and I should have realized that before I started testing) ~always gave their answer after the constants spoke theirs ~answered history questions with rapid ease. Interest areas were obvious, as well as the areas that were not of interest ~conformed, even though they knew this was a conformity project.

My third subject...: ~math question: "I'll agree with [2]. She's smart," followed by, "Oh. Nevermind. I agree with [1]," when 1's answer differed from 2's. She then debated between whose answer to use, eventually taking the side of 1, again, #2 in the class. ~music question: "really?! music?! pssht... I can't read music. I'll go along with that they say." ~name question: they knew that Dick was a nickname and they listened to 2's argument and just agreed with 2.

My fourth subject...: ~came into the room very quietly and did what was asked without asking a bunch of questions. ~fought for answers she knew were right ~was stumped by the music questions and just went along with what 1 & 2 said.


 * (Posted by Sarah Beitzel)On a note of personal experience:**
 * I was sitting in my AP English Lit class today ad we discussed The Great Gatsby in detail. I noticed that everybody was in a way, well, competing to prove that THEIR answer or interpretation was right, and that every opinion that differed from theirs was wrong. In fact, it was almost as if they were just trying to persuade the other people to take their side(s) and abandon personal beliefs for the other idea offered.**