A Preliminary Outline for a Fantasy Projection Technique as a Clinical Instrument

This paper considers the effects of an initial period of “forced” nonconformity on commitment to an independent position in later trials of an Asch-type experiment. Nonconformity was “forced” in the sense that experimental subjects' choices were made to appear deviant by manipulation of the choices of the fictitious discrepant majority who “responded” after experimental subjects. Compared with control subjects who did not experience initial forced deviation, experimental subjects conformed significantly less during a subsequent block of trials where response order was reversed, thereby allowing them to know the choices of the fictitious majority before giving their choice. When the experiment was interpreted within a symbolic interactionism framework, it was hypothesized that two forms of commitment to an independent position, self-commitment and group-commitment, might follow initial “nonconforming” behavior in the group. Data from postsession interviews suggest self-expectations to be more important than imputed group-expectations in the development of a commitment to an independent position.