The yielding experiment from the subject's point of view.

The present paper pursues the inquiry further by considering what experimental Ss had to say about their experience, and what relationships exist between the way an S perceived the situation and his tendency to yield. In the earlier paper, the position was taken that Ss are not passively controlled by the group norm, but rather that they are actively engaged in problem solving. The judgmental tasks are cast in familiar multiple choice format. However, the experimental situation differs fundamentally from the typical examination in that the difficulty inheres not in the form or content of the questions but in the discrepancy between what appear to be the obvious answers and the answers being given by others. It is because the questions are so very clear and easy, and because the others are people like oneself and hence certainly able to answer correctly, that their peculiar judgments are so difficult to account for. In short, what would otherwise be a simple and straightforward examination-like task becomes a situation of conflict because of S's knowledge of others' apparent responses.