Solomon E. Asch

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE

The study of the formation of associations has followed a highly uni-
form pattern whose special character has escaped notice. The pre-
vailing mode of investigation possesses a one-sidedness that obscures a
fundamental question concerning the nature of associations.

The observation from which we begin is that the study of associations
has been restricted to associations between units. The terms entering
into association have been, virtually without exception, distinct and
independent units. Of the various relations that may obtain between
terms, only one has been selected for analysis; the consequence is that
our knowledge of associative processes rests almost entirely on a lim-
ited, and perhaps not representative, set of conditions. We propose
to extend the study of associations to certain hitherto neglected rela-
tions, and in particular to inquire into the role of the unit relation in
association.

There is an important theoretical reason for this partiality of in-
vestigation, which may serve to introduce the present discussion. The

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