Question

During an experiment, participants were completing surveys when smoke started to enter the room, and it appeared that there was a fire in the adjacent room (i.e., the smoke detector was blaring, sounds of fire crackling could be heard). When seated with ten confederates, who were actors told by the experimenter to intentionally ignore the smoke and to not respond in any way, how many of the participants leave immediately once they see smoke entering the room from what seems to be a kitchen fire?

A All participants
B Half of participants
C Approximately 1/3rd
D None

Answer 1

The exact number of participants who would leave a room filling with smoke in the presence of confederates who ignore the danger is not provided.

Step-by-step explanation:

The experiment described resembles the classic studies on conformity and obedience, such as those conducted by Asch and Milgram. When seated with ten confederates who ignored the smoke, the behavior of the actual participants in such a setup is influenced by the concept of social conformity. Based on the similar past social psychology experiments, we can infer that a significant portion of participants may comply with the group's inaction despite the potential danger. However, without specific data from the experiment described, the exact number of participants who would leave immediately is not provided.

Referring to Milgram's controversial study on obedience, it was found that a large majority, precisely 65%, were willing to administer what seemed to be lethal electrical shocks to another person under the authority's direction. This percentage talks about participants' propensity to follow orders even when they might cause harm to others. Asch's experiment on social conformity also revealed that many subjects conformed to a group's incorrect answer, further highlighting how social settings can heavily influence individual behavior.