The GBM Experiment (BBC et al, 2014)

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd say. The finals week of Great British Menu is reminding me a lot of the Psychology course I did on the International Baccalaureate.

I've already said all I need to say about the show so far (in short: the brief is weird, the editing is weird, the chefs are pricks), but now it's finals week, and there's one element of finals week that I find absolutely fascinating.

In the regionals it's always a treat to see someone cook their little socks off, just for one of the judges (probably Oliver) to say 'Well, this isn't good enough. They clearly haven't tried at all'. Always makes me laugh. In finals week, though, it's not just the judges giving out scores, but the chefs too. And they don't sit round a table and discuss it, they splinter off into little groups. There's ususally about three or four separate groups all pronouncing their judgements independently of the others.

Now to psychology. In the fifties, Solomon Asch conducted studies into group conformity. In his initial experiment, one test subject was placed with a group of stooges. All were asked a simple visual question with an easy answer (pick which line is the longest, or something). The stooges all gave the wrong answer. Asch found that, after conducting the test a number of times, around 75% of people would give an incorrect answer at least once to conform with the group consensus, with 35% conforming at any one time. Asch then ran a number of follow ups, finding that conformity rates were highest with three stooges, while high group numbers actually lowered conformity. The presence of just one other person disagreeing with the group would lower conformity rates.

Back to the chefs. They're all off in their little groups, and you can actually see Asch's theories play out in front of you. Obviously here it's all subjective and there's no strictly right or wrong answer, but the cheeky editor is very keen on following one person saying 'This is really over seasoned', with that group nodding in agreement, with someone from another group saying 'The seasoning is perfect', with their group nodding in agreement. One person's strong opinion will sway the whole group - and these are people not short of confidence in their own opinion. Keep an eye on Colin and Emily. Emily is quite generous with her scores, and any group with her in will probably mark a dish highly. Bless Colin, but he is a little bitch, and will pull the scores down in his group. And just like Asch found, there's more disagreement when the group is larger. If I were a scientist, I would be positively aroused at the papers I could write on this.

Any psychologists reading this, maybe look into writing something on the practical applications of conformity theory in modern competitive cooking shows. But remember to reference me.