Conformity is a concept that has been heavily researched in the field of social psychology. Conformity is defined as a change in behavior, beliefs, and attitudes due to group pressure perceived as real (encompassing the presence of others) or imagined (encompassing the pressure of social standards) (Myers, 2010, p. 192). The concept of conformity is a powerful influence on the tendency for people to arrange their thoughts, perspectives, and ideas with others, especially when in a group. This takes away from a person’s individuality because they want to feel accepted by others and therefore, a person will accomplish this basic need of approval through conforming.
There are multiple aspects and variations concerning conformity which include,
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Strength involves group cohesion and unanimity, immediacy relates to physical distance, and numbers relate to group size (Myers, 2010, p. 211-213). The possibility that a person will react to social influence from a group will increase when considering strength, immediacy, and numbers. When these numbers increase tremendously, it has a decreasing effect which is slow but steady. In other words, beyond five members in a group, the incremental effect reduces gradually. Status is also a potential factor in predicting conformity. Higher-status individuals tend to have more influence or effect (Myers, 2010, p. …show more content…
Some incidences I am aware of when I conform and in other circumstances I must do automatically because I do not notice my conformity. There was one particular incident which involved a group discussion in class, my sophomore year of college. I was taking a political science course to fulfill my general education requirement and my group and I were discussing the Constitution. We have just learned new concepts and we have to apply them to the Constitution and the teacher also gave a case study as an activity to complete during class. I had never taken a political science class before and everyone in my group was majoring in political science. Therefore, I felt as though I did not have sufficient knowledge on the topics like everyone else in the group. There was a lot of personal opinion in these particular answers and while I would think of something in my head, I did not agree with any of the other four people in my group. I thought maybe it is because I am a psychology major and I think about situations differently. I believed that everyone else in the group was more knowledgeable when it came to these topics and better informed. When we jotted down our final responses, I did not agree with any of the responses but because I thought they were more informed, I conformed. I agreed with the responses outwardly, but not inwardly. I did not want to be wrong or rejected from my group members. This
Conformity is often described as behaving the same way as everyone else to fit in. While it often has a negative connotation, conformity is an interesting phenomenon that is present in all parts of human society and can be both good and bad. Conformity is a theme present throughout many literary works, and there have been countless studies on it and its effects on people. Some of the most interesting examples can be seen in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Lemming Condition, and the Milgram Experiment.
According to Aronson (1985), conformity is “a change in a person’s opinion or behaviour as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people”.
As Dr. Seuss once said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don 't matter and those who matter don 't mind.” Through this quote, the foundation of conformity is uprooted from its murky hovel and is disputed with. Despite, though, how many people preach these words, they still succumb to the mind numbing effects without even realizing it, because they are not fully aware of the causes of this topic. That is why one needs to understand the causes of conformity before preventing the effects. The three causes of conformity include: changing how one acts to avoid the rejection of their peers, depending on other people 's’ opinions because they are oblivious to a certain topic, and conforming to something based on social characteristics.
Conformity has been extensively studied in social psychology, and three central motivations for conforming behavior are suggested: a desire to be accurate by properly interpreting reality and behaving correctly, to obtain social approval from others, and to maintain a favorable self-concept (Elsevier 140)
Conformity is the act of changing behavior as a result of real or imagined group pressure. Everyone at one point has experienced this type of pressure at one point in their life. I remember this one time when I was confirmed into doing something because everyone was doing it. This happened back in my high school years. There was a point in the eleventh grade that I felt kind of peer pressured into skipping school. I never really had the urge to be a bad kid and go skipping. I actually loved coming to school. I loved learning new things I was always that kind of person. But of course I started hanging out with the wrong group of people. Which I never should have but I wanted to be so called cool. I wanted and had the desire to fit in always, I always wanted acceptance and to be popular. I honestly regret ever going skipping. It wasn’t only once that it happened. It occurred multiple times until it got out of hand and I was caught by my parents. I never heard the last of it from them even until this day I still hear it. From that point on I was always brought to school; until the day I graduated. I regret these poor decisions I made, I feel like if I wouldn’t have done it I would have finished my schooling by now because I found it acceptable to skip school. All because I wanted to be accepted and be one
Conforming to a group or a person is a form of social influence. A video written by Kathleen Yale called ¨Crash Course: Psychology ´Episode 38: Social Influence´¨ explains what conformity is by saying, ¨conformity describes how we adjust our behavior or thinking to follow the behavior or rules of the group we belong to.¨ An experiment was given to five volunteers to show if they would pick the same wrong answer as the group they are in just to fit in. The results read, ¨In the end most subjects still gave what they knew was the correct answer, but more than a third were essentially willing to give the wrong answer to mesh with the group¨ (Yale, Kathleen). Research has also shown that people conform for multiple reasons. Kathleen Yale gives
Once someone starts talking about conformity we all think to ourselves about how we are never a conformist, we never conform, and we stand out from others. Though, this is false. In fact, everyone conforms almost always
Conformity is a kind of social influence that occurs when an individual change his or her attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to match or imitate those of other people. Psychologist have conceptually split this of idea conformity into two major categories base on the social influences that causes them. The two categories consist of informational influence and normative influence. Informational influence occurs when one conforms to others because they believe that the group has accurate information that the person conforming does not have. Normative influence occurs when one conforms to others because one wants them to like and accept them.
According to Webster, conformity is an “agreement in form, manner, or character” (Conformity, 2011). Usually associated with group pressure or bringing influencing by the majority, it can also be clarified as “yielding to group pressures” (Crutchfield, 1955). With these two definitions in mind, we can see that social influence, which tends to cause a change in belief system or even behavior, for the sole purpose of acceptance by the group, plays a large part in our every day lives. Dr. Herbert C. Kelman, the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, at Harvard University takes the definition of conformity a step further with his study, and claims that there are three different types
When we hear the topic of conformity we all try to be different and not become a group. Unfortunately we can't stand it so we are unable be individuals we
Conformity can be defined as an individual changing their own perspective or opinion in order to comply with a standared or norm.Most of the time it is caused by social influence that comes from a group of people. When a given person is a part of a group, their thoughts on a certain subject may be influenced to the point of change. This act og gooing along with a norm is demonstarted in a number of experiments. One of the most popular one is the Asch Experiment conducted by Solomon Asch in 1951, this experiment was also the first to solely evaluate conformity. Asch brought together up to eight students per group to be subjects. In everyIn every group he had, there would really only be one real research subject, all of the others were already
This small article was written to inform the reader about conformity and what conformity is. Conformity is the common form of social influence and is usually described as the way that someone thinks or acts similar to members of a certain social group in order to fit in with group norms. Although conformity can be seen as a negative thing, it is very common everywhere and is sometimes essential to have a working community. Conformity can usually be based off of obedience and compliance. Conformity can be subtle, unconscious, or can come from social pressure. Some motivators for conformity are normative influence (what seems normal or common) and informational influence (what we have been told by society or what we know).Both men and women will
Conformity is a phenomenon of society that penetrates all social levels, ages and genders. Conformity is the ability to adjust your behaviour or standards to fit in with a social group, anxiety could be felt by a person if they feel they are different or stand out from the group (Meunier & Rule, 1967). The study of social psychology allows psychologists to study the way individuals interact to others in groups of any size. The study of conformity will be analysed in this essay in particular Asch’s study into majority influence described as behaviours and beliefs of a larger group influencing the behaviour and beliefs of a smaller group. Additionally, Moscovici’s study into minority influences is described as the ideas and beliefs of a smaller group influencing the behaviour and beliefs of a larger group. Analysing both studies and also the details of Moscovici’s theory a conclusion will be written.
There is a stability or a certain balance linking Individuality and conformity and instead of attempting to go for one in an extreme, or just settling for the other, People should make a strenuous effort to find the equilibrium between the two. The movie”Dead Poets Society” is a great example of the consistent battle between Conformism and Individualism. The definition of of Conformity is “compliance with standards rules and laws /behavior in accordance with socially
Have you ever been at a social gathering and acted in a particular way in order to feed in? This is called conformity, it means a change in behaviors or beliefs due to real or imagined group pressure. Conformity occurs all the time, whether we are aware of it or not. There are three forms of Conformity. The first form is compliance, the second form is obedience, and last but certainly not least, the third form is acceptance. This subject matter relates to me because the three types of conformity has happened to me numerous of times with lack of awareness at the time.