Conformity in psychology is defined as changing one's behavior to fit in with a group of people around. In some cases, social conformity involves acting or agreeing with the majority in a specific group and behaving in a way that is seen as usual by those people. The role of social conformity involves conformity bias, which is the tendency to pick cues for the proper behavior in the context of other people in a group, as opposed to forming one's judgment.
Researchers assert that most people conform for various reasons. In most cases, group conformity comes from the fear of looking stupid. The tendency to conform gets stronger when people are unsure of how to act, and there is also ambiguity surrounding the situation.
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There are numerous reasons why people conform, and these manifest in different ways. Below are the different types of conformity.
Normative Conformity
Normative conformity occurs when one feels the need to be liked and accepted. Many people can relate this to peer pressure when they think of normative conformity. Peer pressure is the immense need to do what others do, even though one would not normally act that way. Many teens and pre-teens are vulnerable to this type of conformity due to the need to be accepted by their friends. Peer pressure can occur in adults as well.
An example of normative conformity is when one attends a play or a movie, for example, and thinks that it is subpar. However, the rest of the audience stands up, clapping at the end. Any person will be forced to join the standing ovation regardless of their opinion about the performance.
Informational Conformity
Informational conformity is a change in the behavior or opinion to conform with other people we believe have the correct information on the matter. Of course, the beliefs are based on informed people like scientists, journalists, teachers, and anyone who is an expert in the field. However, this bias can extend to trusted friends and colleagues who seem to have good judgment.
Informational conformity is named so since it results from social comparison, where people compare their opinions with others to appraise the validity and determine what works best. Imagine an individual shifting from a shorter queue to a longer one only because everyone seems to be in the long queue. Information conformity changes permanent, long-lasting beliefs and preferences since people tend to accept ideas.
An example is when an individual travels to a new country. Any person would be unsure how to behave, act or even talk. Therefore, they will rely on how the natives interact and emulate them. The behavior change is based on the locals, hence showing informational conformity.
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- Following rule is a significant form of conformity. People tend to conform to various rules even though some may not seem relevant or make sense. For instance, people pay fines after violating rules and regulations. Another is driving on the left side of the road, which people follow even though they may not understand the relevance.
- Fashion is another primary form of conformity and has been for eons. The human population has always been followers of fashion trends regardless of how impractical or ridiculous they might look. The decision of what and how to wear clothes and certain outfits is a social norm that people are keen to follow. Over time, people have thoughtlessly followed icons and trends, and those that do not adhere seem abnormal.
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Even though these two terms both affect people's behavior, they are highly different. Obedience is a form of a social hierarchy where the lower in rank have to meet the demands of those in higher rankings, such as authority figures. However, conformity can occur between people of equal standings or unequal people through spoken or unspoken influence.
The Milgram experiment is one of the most famous experiments performed to investigate authority's effects on obedience. In the 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram performed various experiments with some intriguing results. An authority figure commanded the participants to electrocute other people with dangerously high voltages in the investigation. The results showed that people were very likely to be influenced by authority and obey them.
It is necessary to separate conformity from obedience since obedience tends to be more coerced than conformity. Obedience comes from a place of fear of the authority figure and is not representative of the kinds of interactions people have daily. On the other hand, conformity is an excellent way to show how society is interconnected and influences each other.
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Conformity is a form of social influence that involves a change in the common belief or behavior of a person or group of people to fit in a demographic. The Solomon Asch conformity experiment showed some exciting results, where 25% of the participants were the ones to conform, while the additional 50% conformed at least once. It showed that at least 75% of the people conformed at least once, showing an immense human need to fit in. There are two main types of conformity: normative and informational. Normative is associated chiefly with peer pressure, where one needs to fit in a group of their peers and be liked and accepted. For instance, a new student will do everything required to fit with the rest of the students. On the other hand, informational conformity stems from the idea that other people may have more knowledge on a subject; hence, it is prudent to follow them. For instance, a person may shift from a short queue to a longer one if they think they may not have all the information.
Stanley Milgram conducted the infamous obedience study in 1963, where he tested how participants were willing to hurt other people long as they received directions from authority figures. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the forms of social conformity from obedience. While conformity is a way of responding to a group of people, obedience focuses on authority without question.
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Video Transcript
Social Conformity
Imagine you've volunteered for a study. You arrive and sit at the end of a row that has four other participants. The presenter gives you two cards: one has one line, and the other has three lines. You are asked to compare the length of the one line with the other three to determine which is the same length as the original line. The other participants give their answers, one by one. They unanimously give an answer that is clearly wrong. When it's your turn, do you change your answer to match theirs, or do you stick with the answer you know is correct?
This scenario is actually part of a famous experiment conducted by Solomon Asch in 1951. The purpose was to study social conformity, which is a type of social influence that results in a change of behavior or belief in order to fit in with a group. Asch wanted to see how often people conform and why. In his experiment, the person at the end of the row was actually the only participant; the other people in the room were actually actors and were purposefully giving the incorrect answer to some of the questions. Asch measured the number of times each participant conformed to the obviously incorrect answer. Approximately 25% of the participants conformed most of the time, and an additional 50% of the participants conformed at least once. That means that only 25% never conformed.
This study is well known and demonstrates the power of social influence. When the participants were asked why they went along with the clearly incorrect answer, most of them said that they had just gone along with the group in fear of being ridiculed. Some of them even said they believed that the group's answer was correct and that they must have been missing something. These answers represent the two types of social conformity: normative and informational.
Normative Conformity
Normative conformity is conformity that occurs because of the desire to be liked and accepted. Most people probably think of peer pressure amongst teens when they think of normative conformity, and for good reason. Most teens and pre-teens are particularly vulnerable to influence because they long to be accepted by their peers. I'm sure when you were a teenager you heard the phrase, ''If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?'' Peer pressure is certainly a good example of normative conformity, but it happens to adults, too.
For example, have you ever attended a performance that was, at best, mediocre? Maybe it was a play you saw, and you thought it was just okay. However, at the end of the play, several people around you may have stood while clapping. It wouldn't take very long for every person in the auditorium, including you, to participate in the standing ovation. Even though you didn't think the performance was necessarily deserving of the praise, you joined in rather than remaining seated, so you wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb. Standing ovations, peer pressure, fashion trends, body image, and following traditions are just a few examples of normative conformity.
Informational Conformity
The other type of conformity is informational conformity, which is conformity that occurs because of the desire to be correct. In Asch's experiment, some of the participants stated that they believed they must be wrong since no one else agreed with them. They changed their answer so that they would be 'right.' Informational conformity is so named because we believe that it gives us information that we did not previously have. For example, imagine you walk into a food court at a mall. There are three stalls open, yet the entire crowd is seated and eating in front of only one of them. Would you, as the newcomer, assume that that particular stall has the best food because everyone else is eating there?
Informational conformity typically comes from the thought of, 'They must know something I don't know.' In many situations, we are unsure of how to act or what to say. So, another example of informational conformity is when we travel to other countries. Typically, we're unsure of how to act and rely on our observations of others to point us in the right direction. When we change our behavior based on the actions of the locals, we are demonstrating informational conformity.
Obedience
Neither normative conformity nor informational conformity should be confused with obedience. Where conformity is a response to a group, obedience is a response to authority. It is following orders from an authority figure without question. A famous obedience study was conducted at Yale in 1963 by Stanley Milgram, who wanted to see how much participants would be willing to hurt other people when given direct orders by an authority figure.
Participants in the study were told that they were to take on the role of 'teacher,' and that another person out of sight was to be the 'student.' The teacher's job was to quiz the student and deliver an electrical shock at increasing voltages to the student for every wrong answer given. The experimenter was an intimidating authority figure dressed in a lab coat that issued orders any time the teacher would hesitate to deliver the shock via the controls in front of him. While the participants believed that they were delivering real shocks to the students, the students were actually only pretending to be shocked.
Long story short, 26 of the 40 participants in the study delivered the maximum shock, which should have been lethal. Only 14 stopped before reaching the highest level. Most of the participants became extremely upset and angry at the experimenter, sweating, trembling, crying, etc. Yet, they continued to be obedient and followed orders all the way to the end. So, why did they do that? Milgrim concluded from his study that people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative, even when acting against their own morals.
This experiment played a huge part in our understanding of the powerful nature of obedience and how it is different from conformity. With conformity, individuals choose to change their behavior because of their need for acceptance or because they're not sure what to do. With obedience, individuals feel they must exhibit a certain behavior because of orders from an authority figure.
Lesson Summary
In summary, social conformity is a type of social influence that results in a change of behavior or belief in order to fit in with a group. The two types of social conformity are normative conformity and informational conformity. Normative conformity occurs because of the desire to be liked and accepted. Peer pressure is a classic example of normative conformity.
On the other hand, informational conformity occurs because of the desire to be correct. It typically happens because we assume that others know something that we don't. Social conformity is different from obedience, although they are both very powerful. Where social conformity is a response to a group, obedience is a response to authority. People typically obey commands out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative.
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