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Causes of conformity
Nook et al (2016) have defined conformity as the act through which individuals try to change their behaviors to fit in or rather go in line with those around them. Conformity has been considered as a social influence that might involve an agreement among those involved. Essentially conformity results in behavior changes by influencing how people respond and comply with things around them. Psychologists have tried to argue out the causes of social conformity, by doing so they have categorized the reasons for conformity into two groups; personal and other general causes.
Peer pressure
Costello et al (2016) argued that some people are forced to conform against their will due to peer pressure, this is common especially among adolescents, at this point they still do not know exactly are or rather who they want to be and so they try to copy certain behaviors and traits from friends in a bid to be like them. They may be forced to change their dressing styles to match that of their friends.
Dependence on other people
People can live their lives in any way that they desire however doing so when depending on someone might be a difficult task. When we have to depend on others may for provisions, our ability set standards for ourselves is always capped, and this means we will have to live by their standards. (Ward 2016)
Social institutions and conformity
Social institutions can impact on the way we behave, this is because of the different messages that we receive from the institutions; some of the institutions can encourage us to behave in a particular manner while others can make us deviant. Schools have been considered as agents of change and conformity because as children join schools, they go without having learned many things, however the teachings at school helps them to think outside their families and local norms; by this they consequently made through education to act and think in a certain manner in line with the school’s regulations. The provision of communication skills and the subsequent interactions in schools have also played important roles in ensuring that conformity is achieved. Students from different backgrounds learn the same curriculum in school thus effectively transforming their diversity into homogeneity. (Cecchini et al 2019)
Religion has found to require a lot of compliance from those who believe, in religion, one has to surrender him/herself to a higher power thus motivating selfless caring acts. Religion has been found to promote the fundamental motivation for social affliction which forms a favorable ground for conformity this is because the motivation to socially affiliate is even stronger among religious people. Religion has led to the development of religious beliefs among people; with these specific ideas that religious people hold to be true such as the creation of the earth, people are forced to align their beliefs towards this direction. (Thiruchselvam et al 2017)
The Asch experiment
The Asch Conformity Experiments done by Solomon Asch in the 1950s has been considered as among the studies that have shown real results as far as conformity is concerned. The experiment has indicated that the experimenters actually knew the correct answer but somehow decided to go along with the majority answer by picking on the wrong answers. This could be for one; the peer pressure of having to do something even if it is wrong, they did not want to be judged for taking a contradicting position from the others. In conclusion, Asch had realized that that conformity was greatest when there was a group of at least three people and that is why the experimenters gave wrong answers. In his realization, the conformity rates declined considerably when individuals were forced to individually state their answers. (The Asch experiment video)
References
“Solomon’s Asch conformity Experiment Today”
Cecchini Manara, V., & Sacconi, L. (2019). Compliance with socially responsible norms of behavior: reputation vs. conformity (No. wp73). Econometrica.
Costello, B. J., & Hope, T. L. (2016). Peer pressure, peer prevention: The role of friends in crime and conformity. Routledge.
Nook, E. C., Ong, D. C., Morelli, S. A., Mitchell, J. P., & Zaki, J. (2016). Prosocial conformity: Prosocial norms generalize across behavior and empathy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42(8), 1045-1062.
Thiruchselvam, R., Gopi, Y., Kilekwang, L., Harper, J., & Gross, J. J. (2017). In God we trust? Neural measures reveal lower social conformity among non-religious individuals. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 12(6), 956-964.
Ward, N. (2016). Critical thinking: the impact of social influence.
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