Final answer:
The direct answer is that the desire to be a nonconformist was not among the reasons people were so conforming in the Asch studies. The reasons for conformity in the studies were normative social influence and informational social influence, with the former being the primary reason due to the clarity of the task.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Asch conformity studies were designed to examine the power of conformity in groups. Among the reasons for the high degree of conformity seen in the Asch studies, the desire to be a nonconformist was not identified as a reason. The studies pointed to two main reasons for conformity: normative social influence and informational social influence. Normative social influence involves the human tendency to conform in order to fit in with and be accepted by a group. Informational social influence occurs when people conform because they believe the group is competent and has correct information, particularly when a task or situation is ambiguous. However, in the context of the Asch experiments, since the line judgment task was clear and unambiguous, the reason for conformity was primarily because of normative social influence.In the Asch studies, three possible reasons for why people were so conforming were normative social influence, informational social influence, and fear of rejection. The option that was NOT among those reasons is d) Desire to be a nonconformist.