What is conformity?
Conformity is the act of changing your behaviors in order to fit in or go along with the people around you. In some cases, this social influence might involve agreeing with or acting like the majority of people in a specific group, or it might include behaving in a particular way in order to be perceived as “normal” by the group. Essentially, conformity involves giving in to group pressure.
Types of Conformity
1. Normative Conformity: This type of conformity involves changing one’s behavior in order to fit in with a group. For example, a teenager might dress in a certain style because they want to look like their peers who are members of a particular group.
2. Informational Conformity: In this case, conformity is looking to the group for information and direction (this happens when a person lacks knowledge). Think of attending your first class at a new yoga studio. You would probably watch what others were doing to see where you should hang your coat, stow your shoes, unroll your mat, and so on.
3. Compliance: Compliance is changing one’s behavior while still internally disagreeing with the group. For example, you might read a book for your book club and really enjoy it. But at your meeting, you learn that the other members all disliked the book. Rather than go against the group opinion, you might simply agree that the book was terrible.
4. Internalization: This type of conformity involves changing one’s behavior to be like another person. You might notice this in a friend who’s taste in music or movies shifts to match that of their romantic partner.
Causes of Conformity
The Desire To Be Right (Informational Social Influence): People gather information to have an accurate perception and understanding of the social world. They tend to depend on others as a source of information where they are uncertain. For example, if we want to know our blood pressure we can measure them directly. But to know social views on which dress and colors suit us best we need others help. There are no physical tests or measuring devices for solving these problems. We need others to help to get answers to such questions. We use their opinions and actions as our guide. Such reliance on others is a powerful source to confirm. This is known as informational social influence.
The Cognitive Consequences of Going Along With The Group: Some people easily express that they are wrong and others are right. At the same time, other people find it more difficult. Such persons feel that their own decision is correct, but at the same time, they don’t want to be unusual. These persons conform even if their views are not in agreement with other beliefs. This explains their desire to conform to the group. These acts force us to alter our perceptions. Studies showed that they are faced with the choice between changing one’s minds and proving that there is no need to do so, e.g. “Teej Ko Dar” (in Hindu Culture) and other formalities of life indicate such pressures.
Many people often choose to go along with the norms of their groups, values, social results, or expectations. They fear resisting them. This is a basic fact of social life. All human beings have the motive to be:
– Liked or accepted by others: normative social influence
Based on individuals’ desire to be liked or accepted by other persons. We fear being rejected and thus conform even more to existing social norms. One way of doing this is to stick more closely to what is viewed as “acceptable” or “appropriate” in our group. For example, we are embarrassed if we show up at a wedding party in a casual dress and find everyone dressed formally.