The Vault

Following the herd: the role of conformity in today's society

Daisy Parkinson

Conformity denotes the process whereby individuals adjust their behaviour, opinions, and attitudes to accord with those prevailing among the majority, even in cases where they hold dissenting views. This phenomenon, initially elucidated by Asch in the 1950s, has since become a focal point of extensive inquiry within the realm of social psychology. There are two reasons why people may conform - either because they want to be liked by the group they are with, or due to the belief that the group is better informed than them.

It is suggested that there are three types of conformity:

The first is internalisation. This occurs when an individual genuinely accepts group norms, causing both public and private permanent changes in behaviour. This is due to the idea that these attitudes have been internalised and become a part of the way a person thinks. This even occurs when other members of that same group are not present. One example of this is body image. One may internalise the ideology that they must look a certain way to be considered attractive - for example, needing to be a certain weight or body type. This person may publicly have this view but also feel dysmorphic when on their own, despite the group not being present.

The second is identification. This occurs when an individual conforms to the opinions or behaviour of a group as there is something about that group that we value. We identify with the group and therefore want to be a part of it. This causes a public and private change in behaviour. However, it is reliant on the presence of said group, without this, the attitudes will revert back. One example of this is smoking. A person may smoke around a certain social or friend group and genuinely believe that that is what they want to do. Without this social group present however, this person would not smoke as they are conforming to the group pressure rather than their individual opinion when alone.

The third is compliance, known as the most superficial of all conformity. It involves simply going along with others in public while privately having a varying opinion. One example of this is misogyny. One might privately have the view that women should not work or that they are not as capable as men. However, this person knowing that others may have a varying view, may publicly present their opinion as otherwise.

Conformity is present from a very young age; studies into preschool-aged children such as Haun and Tomasello’s study showed that children often made their judgments conform to those of 3 peers. These peers had made obviously erroneous but unanimous public judgments, for example answering that 20 divided by 2 is 15. Despite these errors, the children still went along with their answers. However, this does not mean that children changed their "real" judgment of the situation, but only their public expression of it. Preschool children are subject to peer pressure, indicating sensitivity to peers as a primary social reference group already; this links to conformity as group pressure is vital in the adjustment of one's behaviour.

Well, Cinnirella and Green aimed to answer this question with their study into culture and communication mediums on social conformity. They used three conditions: one being computer-mediated communication (CMC)- this was the online condition; one being a face-to-face condition (FTF); and a control condition. The results were that there was more conformity in the FTF and CMC conditions than in the control condition and more conformity in the FTF than the other two conditions overall. These results denote that conformity is most prevalent in situations where we are in person and when group pressures are more pronounced. Despite social media's vast usage in today's society and the implications that people are more likely to adjust their behaviour online, this study conveyed that, in person, participants are most likely to conform.

The sub-experiment within this study was on cross-cultural conformity. Individualistic cultures emphasize the needs and desires of individuals over those of the group and the relationships of individuals with respect to other individuals. These cultures expect individuals to learn and discover what their values and interests are independent of the group’s social structures. This valuing of independence, self-sufficiency, and self-definition leads to social behaviours driven by the desires of individuals. Consequently, individuals are obligated to cultivate their own judgment, regardless of social pressure encouraging conformity. Collectivistic cultures place emphasis on dependency on others and the needs and desires of the social group over the individual. In the face-to-face condition of this study, Cinnirella and Green found that participants from individualist countries such as the United States or Germany conform less than participants from collectivist countries such as China or Japan. This shows overall that culture plays a large role in societal influence and conformity.

But is conformity good or bad?

On the one hand, you may consider conformity to be a bad thing, with its harrowing effects on body image and body dysmorphia or peer pressure related to drugs and alcohol. In today's society, many young people feel a lot of pressure to conform to those around them and present themselves in a certain way despite their views and over time, even internalising toxic and damaging views about their behaviours and beliefs. Another example of this, which is even present in school children is the idea of competitiveness. Often in highly academic schools, children are put against each other, resulting in a poor work-life balance in future and overly comparing themselves to others in terms of performance. This can be very damaging to a person's mental health as comparisons to others or the belief that we are not good enough can truly affect people's long-term views on themselves or others.

On the other hand, conformity can have many positive effects on society and individual attitudes in regard to acceptance and disapproval. More modern views on topics such as people of colour, misogyny and the LGBT+ community. In the past, it was seen as acceptable to some to discriminate and treat others differently on the basis of their sexuality, race and gender. In today's society, this is generally socially unacceptable leading to more conformity as people change their views as society develops. Another positive example of conformity is with smoking. In the past, smoking was acceptable, even encouraged, and the majority of the general population smoked freely without judgement. Nowadays, smoking is seen as unacceptable by wider society due to its extreme health effects, this lack of acceptance has vastly contributed to its decreased usage due to an increase in conformity to societal pressures. In 1974, in the UK, 45.6% of over 16-year-olds smoked. In 2023, this decreased to only 10% - showing an undoubtable decrease in the use of cigarettes.

Despite your own personal view on conformity, there is no doubt that it has a widespread effect globally - changing us as individuals, but also as a society.