Learning to embrace uniqueness

By Brook Boniface

One of the most memorable classes I ever took in high school was AP Psychology. In this class we learned about the Asch conformity experiments of the 1950's.

During these experiments one participant was brought into a room and told that he was going to partake in a study on visual perception. The participant was actually part of a study on conformity and everyone else in the room was an actor.

All of the members of the group were told to announce their answers to a series of questions about lines aloud.

The actors provided their answers before the study participant and always gave the same answer as one another. At first they answered the questions correctly, but eventually they began giving incorrect responses.

In a control group, with no pressure to conform to an erroneous view, only one of the 35 subjects ever gave an incorrect answer. However, when the actors began giving a different, obviously incorrect, response, 75 percent of the participants gave a wrong answer to at least one question.

This experiment provides interesting insight into the human need to conform and fit into the group.

Participants felt this desire strong enough to change their answer to an easy question in order to fit in with a group of people that they did not know for a simple random study.

When the stakes are even higher, when the people you are grouped with are your friends or coworkers, and when the activity is not as trivial, people often do everything they can to blend in with the crowd.

I have seen real-life examples of this experiment on many occasions. All of high school was essentially an exercise in how to fit in. 

he people that did stand out were the ones who were picked on, made fun of and teased.

The kid who carried a briefcase around instead of the typical backpack was mercilessly mocked; much like the girl whose frizzy hair could not be tamed.

No matter the situation, it was almost always better to blend in. Being different meant running the risk of being the butt of many jokes.

Upon coming to college, I thought that these lessons from high school would still hold true.

While I didn't make any active attempts to change myself in order to blend in, I was definitely wary of doing anything too outlandish. Luckily, college is not high school and difference is more likely to be accepted and celebrated.

In my three years here at Santa Clara I have met some of the most interesting, unique and amazing people in my entire life. Their personalities and passions have inspired and influenced me in countless ways.

My friend Kiri has introduced me to more new music than I can remember, my friend Kurt motivated me to join the newspaper and my friend Brandi helped me to be less biased.

I have come to realize that the more unique a person is and the more comfortable they are with themselves, the more I admire and respect them.

Brooke Boniface is a junior history and political science double major.