Asch’s conformity experiment showed that the presence of a single dissenter tremendously reduced the incidence of “conforming” wrong answers. Individualism is easy, experiment shows, when you have company in your defiance. Every other subject in the room, except one, says that black is white. You become the second person to say that black is black. And it feels glorious: the two of you, lonely and defiant rebels, against the world!
It’s probably worth noting that most people are actually pretty okay with being lone dissenters—at least if we’re going by Asch’s conformity experiments. The original studies have been a bit overblown in psych textbooks, which tend to portray conformity as more rampant than it really is (see here and here). In reality, individualism shows up more often than you’d think. In the original study, about 35.7% conformed, and in a recent replication, it’s around 33%. None of this really contradicts what Yud said here, though, just adds a little nuance. Most people aren’t conformist sheep.
It’s probably worth noting that most people are actually pretty okay with being lone dissenters—at least if we’re going by Asch’s conformity experiments. The original studies have been a bit overblown in psych textbooks, which tend to portray conformity as more rampant than it really is (see here and here). In reality, individualism shows up more often than you’d think. In the original study, about 35.7% conformed, and in a recent replication, it’s around 33%. None of this really contradicts what Yud said here, though, just adds a little nuance. Most people aren’t conformist sheep.