On April 2007, a teenage driver, Samuel Wilson, was driving under the influence of alcohol when he crashed into the car of 61-year-old nurse, Elizabeth Sherman. Later, the victim died in the hospital from her injuries. As a result, Wilson was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. According to investigation, Wilson was not only speeding while under the influence of alcohol, but also driving without his lights on. It was also discovered that two days before his license had been suspended in DUII infraction.
Group conformity was proven by Solomon E. Asch’s experiment of lines. In each experiment, there was only one participant and the rest was fake participants or confederates. During each trial, each of the participants had to match the first line he sees with another line A, B, or C. For a while, everyone is choosing the correct answer, when suddenly the confederates all purposely choose the same wrong answer. The true participant knows that their answer is obviously wrong, but he chooses to follow them and be wrong rather than stand out of the group and be right.
The same theory applies to the teenage drunk driver. Wilson had to choice to either drink or not to drink. First of all, he was underage and therefore it was illegal for him to drink. There are many cases of teens drunk driving after alcohol parties. Peer pressure is a strong weapon of group conformity.
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