The term conformity means to behave according to the norms of society or to come up to the social expectations of others.

In psychology, conformity is seen as a tendency to change one’s behaviour, attitudes, and beliefs to make them match the norms of society or the expectations of others in a social context. 

Every society has its norms and values. These norms and values are informal rules of behaviour. In other words, these are the socially accepted ways of behavior. Behaving in accordance with these socially accepted ways means that the person is conforming to the norms of society. People in different societies have different styles of greeting one another, dresses, music, cuisines, ways of behaving with elders and juniors, and so on. However, people in the same society share the same styles and attributes because of conformity to the norms of the society.

People conform to societal norms because these norms exert social pressure on them to behave accordingly. This is because these norms are the socially approved ways of behavior and by conforming to them, an individual sees himself as an acceptable member of society. Since these shared norms, the individual thinks that if he behaves differently from these norms, he may look weird or as an outsider, and thus may be rejected by society. Therefore, conformity serves as a factor of social acceptability for people.

Socialization plays a primary role in bringing social conformity in an individual. Since childhood, an individual is socialized by his family members to conform to the norms of society. For instance, parents generally teach their children in informal ways about how to talk, how to dress, how to greet others, and other such behaviour bases on the prevalent norms of the society. Socialization is a lifelong process, in which the role of teachers and friends is also important because they directly or indirectly influence the behaviour of an individual as per norms of society.

The conformity is also seen in small groups where its members tend to look similar to one another. For instance, when a teacher completes a lecture, he may ask the students, ‘is there any confusion?’. Typically, the whole class respond to this question by saying ‘no’ or by remaining silent to indicate that there is no confusion. However, a few students may indeed have some confusion about some point in the lecture, but they also remain silent and do not express their confusion. They generally do so because of fear of what other students might think of them. Therefore, in a desire to remain similar to the other students of the class, they may conform to the behaviour of remaining silent and not expressing their query.

This article discusses the experiments followed by general and unique factors of conformity, as follows.

An experiment was conducted by Muzafer Sherif to demonstrate conformity. The subjects were brought to a dark room where a point of light was shown to them. They were asked to estimate how much the point moved. In fact, the point remained stationary but due to visual illusion known as an auto kinesthetic effect, it seemed as if it was moving. Initially, the subjects gave different responses. The experiment was repeated several times. In the end, all the subjects gave an almost similar estimate of the motion of the point of light. In other words, all the subjects agreed to a common answer. From this, it became obvious that people generally conform by agreeing to a common thing or idea. It helps explain that people conform to norms of the society because these norms are shared by the majority of the people of society.

Another experiment of conformity was conducted by Solomon Asch in the 1950s. It differed from Sherif’s experiment in that the situation was clear here, whereas the previous experiment was conducted in an ambiguous situation.

Asch thought that in clear situations conformity will be lesser. To test this, he designed an experiment in which five male college students participated. Four of the subjects were confederates (who were advised to give the wrong answer intentionally) while the fifth one was the real subject.

They were shown two cards: the first card with one line on it, and the second card with three lines on it. They were asked which line on the second card was equal (in length) to the line on the first card. Initially, the real subject gave the correct answer. Since the confederates were advised (before the experiment) to give a wrong answer intentionally to see if the real subject conform to them by agreeing to their wrong answer, they gave wrong answers in the experiment. After some trials, when the confederates gave wrong answers, the real subjects also answered like confederates and gave the similar wrong answer in most of the trials. The real subject conformed to the group, even though the situation was very much clear, and he knew the correct answer.

Asch was surprised to see the result of the experiment. It was concluded that people conform to a group even the situation is very much clear. This means that people in society may conform to the norms of society because the majority of people are following these norms. This can be an influence of group unanimity where an individual may feel satisfied and at ease by going with the rest of the people. This also points to the factor of social acceptance which means by going with the rest of the people you are accepted and respected as part of the larger group – society.

There are many factors that make people conform to others. The most important factors can be grouped into 1) normative influence and social acceptability, and 2) informational influence and the desire to be correct. These two categories are also supported by the results of the above two experiments.

This applies to conformity in a larger group – society - as well as in smaller groups such as students sitting in a library.

Societal norms are the social expectations that define how an individual is expected to behave in society. These norms are socially approved ways of behaving. Therefore, these norms exert an influence on an individual to behave in a specific way. This is called normative influence. For instance, people within the same society dress similarly to one another. This normative influence is also associated with the social acceptability of the people. It means that when an individual behaves according to the norms of society, he is accepted and respected as a member of that society. For instance, if a person dresses differently than the norms of society, he or she may look weird or like an outsider. People generally desire to be liked and accepted as part of society. They do not want to be rejected, criticized, or disliked by others in society. Consequently, they conform to the norms of society to seek social acceptability.  

We act very soberly, decently, and respectfully when we are in front of our parents at home. However, we may act very enthusiastically and a bit differently when we are with friends in the cafeteria at college. This is because of the normative influence. Every situation has its norms, and we conform to them.

Similarly, students, sitting in a library, conform to the formal rules and regulations of the library. They sit very calmly without making noise or disturbing others in the library. However, the same students may behave very enthusiastically when they are at a cinema or at a party. This is because of the normative influence which is linked with the social acceptance of an individual in a social situation or group.

Individuals also conform to others due to their desire to be correct. The desire to be correct is linked with informational influence. In most situations, an individual conforms to others because they are seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy. This assures the individual to be correct because they are following a knowledgeable person. For instance, people may conform to a diet plan for weight loss because it is suggested by an expert nutritionist. They think by following this diet plan they will be on the correct track to weight loss. We generally hear the phrase “this information is supported by research” when the speaker intends to indicate the authenticity of the information. This is because people only conform when they think that the information provided to them makes them look or behave correct.

Information influence is generally applicable in situations where a person may have no experience or knowledge to handle something. Similarly, it can occur when a person has to make a choice about something new. In such cases, the person is likely to follow those whom they think are correct – have more information and knowledge. For instance, people may ask others to suggest the best college or university to them for their studies when they themselves do not much about the colleges or universities in the area. The degree of conformity in such cases would depend on how much an individual values opinion of others and the nature (e.g., more or less logical and authentic) of information provided to the individual.

We conform more in some situations while less or not conform in others. There are some factors that determine how much an individual will conform to group standards or norms, as follows.

(A) Group size 

Group size affects the level of conformity. If the size of the group increases, it also increases the conformity of its members to the group standards or norms. This is because larger groups have a greater social influence on its members. In addition, to support from others in a group that leads to conformity, the increase in opposition from others may also result in an individual’s conformity to others. For instance, you choose a dress at a store to buy it for yourself, but your sister opposes your choice, you may not change your choice, but if your mother and other sisters also oppose your choice, it is likely that you may change your choice and chose another dress.

(B) Group unanimity

Group unanimity also leads to conformity. A group is a collectivity of people where its members have a sense of belongingness to the group. All members identify themselves with their group. It gives them a sense of satisfaction to act like others in the group. The standards and norms are the socially acceptable pattern of behaviour for people within the group. Thus, these standards and norms shape the behaviour and give a sense of satisfaction to the members in terms of their social acceptance within the group. This is why the minorities within a group may also behave (e.g., wear a dress) like the majority behave within the group. In such cases, the minorities are outsiders but when they become part of the group, they start to conform to the standards of the majority.

(C) Age 

Age is another predictor of conformity in people. People at a young age and adolescence show higher conformity. They are more likely to be shaped by external influence. For instance, due to a greater influence of peer pressure on people at young age and adolescence, they dress like their peers and behave like them. This is the reason why people at a young age are advised to keep the company of good peers because they are more vulnerable to using abusive drugs due to peer pressures.

(D) Minority influence

The general and common notion is that the influence of the majority causes conformity. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, the minority may also bring a change. This happens when the minority challenge an idea presented by the majority and provide a more logical and rational reason to convince others to agree to their stance.

In such cases, the impact of the minority is determined by 1) if they can present their stance logically and rationally, 2) if the minority is from the same group (rather than from an external group) but only has a different view about something, they will be more influential, and 3) if the contentious issue has no or less personal relevance to the group, the impact may be more effective.