ASCH, SOLOMON E

(1907-1996) Polish-born U.S. psychologist. Asch emigrated with his family to the United States in 1920 and then earned his doctorate from Columbia University in 1932. His dominant influences were the Gestalt psychologists. Asch taught at a number of universities, including Swarthmore College, where for some 19 years he was part of a group of Gestalt psychologists that included Wolfgang Koimer .Asch also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained from 1972 until his retirement. Asch is best known for his contributions to social psychology, especially for his classic 1952 text on social behaviors. He was particularly successful in designing laboratory experiments that reflected the complexity of human social life, including the tendency to conform. His experiments were among the first to show how social context influence fundamental processes like perception. His work was widely influential and the conformity experiments of Stanley Milgram grew directly out of it. Asch held many honors over the span of his career, including the Nicholas Murray Butler Medal from Columbia University and a Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association. He was elected to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1965.