dangers of conformity essay

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

How Conformity Can Be Good and Bad for Society

In the U.S. Federal court system, many important cases go through three-judge panels. The majority opinion of these panels carries the day, meaning that having a majority is crucial for one side or another to get the rulings they want. So, if two out of three of the judges are appointed by Democrats, it’s safe to assume that most cases will go their way.

But a study of the judicial behavior of the District of Columbia Circuit came to a surprising conclusion: A panel of three GOP-appointed judges was actually considerably more likely to make a conservative ruling than a panel of two GOP appointees and one Democratic appointee. Just one Democratic dissenter appeared to make the difference; the dissenter apparently swayed their colleagues, demonstrating how viewpoint diversity has the power to alter the conclusions of a group.

This court study is among many cited by legal scholar Cass Sunstein in his new book Conformity: The Power of Social Influences , which delves deeply into how and why individuals often follow the opinions and behaviors of groups they belong to.

The upside and downside of conformity

While the book does warn of the downsides of conformity, Sunstein doesn’t declare that conforming is always harmful to society. On the contrary, he reiterates numerous circumstances when society can benefit from it.

For instance, Sunstein notes how conformity helped encourage public smoking laws. One study found that when public smoking bans were enacted in three California cities, compliance was high, and the cities received few reports of violations. Sunstein believes that the law had an impact not because of the threat of state enforcement, but because “the law suggests that most people believe it is wrong to smoke in public places. And if most people think it is wrong to smoke in public places, would-be smokers are less likely to smoke, in part because they do not want to be criticized or reprimanded.” In other words, the power of a popular law is due partly to conformity.

But conformity also carries with it the power to make human beings ignore their own consciences, sometimes to the point of committing atrocities.

The book points to Stanley Milgram’s infamous experiment in which participants were told to deliver a series of electric shocks to another participant (actually an actor working as the researcher’s confederate), slightly increasing the intensity every time. While the experiment was a ruse, the participants didn’t know that. Milgram found that all of the participants were willing to shock the confederate at 300 volts, and two-thirds continued to administer shocks at the very highest level of voltage. The participants were simply willing to trust the instructor that what they were doing was okay.

What drives conformity

Special Event: Bridging Differences

Join us to learn research-based strategies for dialogue and understanding

In order to understand how conformity works—from fairly banal examples such as public smoking bans all the way up to atrocities committed during World War II—Sunstein breaks it down into its component parts:

Informational signals: Sunstein suggests that participants in Milgram’s experiment were willing to follow orders because they believed the experimenter to be a trusted expert who was assuring them that the shocks were causing no lasting harm. This represents an “informational signal”—a batch of information sent out by a trusted expert or a crowd that can help you decide how you feel or act. Signals from in-groups—people you like, trust, or admire—are far more valuable than information signals from out-groups.

Reputational signals: We may have private qualms about a point of view or given course of action, but because we want to remain in the good graces of our social grouping, we suppress our dissent and eventually fall in line. This is particularly apparent in how social media polarization operates, where people gain prestige and influence when agreeing with their cohort’s biases rather than opposing them.

Social cascades: Sunstein identifies both informational and reputational signals as helping produce social cascades: “large-scale social movements in which many people end up thinking something, or doing something, because of the beliefs or actions of a few early movers.” He identifies everything from the success of Jane Austen novels to the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump as cascades.

To demonstrate how a cascade can work, he cites a study by sociologist Duncan Watts, in which study participants were asked to rank a group of seventy-two songs from best to worst. A control group was not given any information other than the songs themselves. But eight other subgroups could see how many people had previously downloaded the songs within their subgroup.

Watts found that the songs the control group had labeled as the worst songs generally ended up toward the bottom, while the ones the control group favored generally ended up toward the top. But for most of the other songs, a burst of popularity based on early downloads predicted how well they did in the rankings. In other words, people gave higher rankings to songs they perceived as popular among their group. Results like these may explain why companies marketing certain products often try to grease the wheels of sales by creating an impression of popularity before the product is actually popular.

How conformity drives polarization

The power of conformity and cascades has deep implications for political polarization. Sunstein notes that “like-minded people go to extremes,” and cites three factors for why this happens: “information, corroboration, and social comparison.”

In homogeneous groups, people tend to deal with a limited pool of information. If you are in a social group whose members tend to be opposed to abortion rights, it’s unlikely that you will ever hear any argument in favor of these rights. With your limited information, you are more likely to move in the direction of opposing abortion rights rather than supporting them.

“Much of the time, it is in the interest of the individual to follow the crowd, but in the social interest for individuals to say and do what they think best”

Corroboration comes into play because people who lack confidence in their views tend to have more moderate opinions. As Sunstein writes, people “who are unsure what they should think tend to moderate their views. It is for this reason that cautious people, not knowing what to do, are likely to choose the midpoint between relevant extremes.” But if you surround yourself with people who share your views, this will end up corroborating your beliefs. In this sort of environment, you will become more confident that you are correct and be more likely to move in an extreme direction.

Social comparison leads us to want to be perceived favorably by members of our group. If our group is strongly in favor of gun control, we will naturally gravitate to that position to win applause from our group.

Thus, these three factors together demonstrate how excessive conformity can drive polarization.

What can we do to lessen conformity’s downsides?

For Sunstein, the downsides of conformity are most concerning in his profession: the law. He believes that conformity can undermine our system of deliberative governance, the courts, and the undergraduate and law school education.

The book argues in favor of the checks and balances that exist in the federal system, where cascades can be broken by a House and Senate that are often at odds, for instance. He also argues that freedom of association provides a safeguard against informational and reputational influences that can lead people to conform without considering the downsides of a point of view or plan of action.

Citing the raft of studies showing that the presence of a dissenting judge on federal panels can significantly change outcomes, Sunstein argues for greater diversity on the federal bench. “My only suggestions are that a high degree of diversity on the federal judiciary is desirable, that the Senate is entitled to pursue diversity, and that without such diversity, judicial panels will inevitably go in unjustified directions,” he writes.

Lastly, Sunstein dives into the debate over affirmative action in higher education. He offers a somewhat nuanced view: Racial diversity—the main topic of many higher education debates—can in some circumstances be important, but is not a cure-all. He ultimately favors “cognitive diversity”—meaning, law school classrooms should have rigorous debates with many points of view represented. To the extent that racial and cultural diversity helps promote those debates, Sunstein appears to be in favor. But he also argues that there are many paths to an ideologically diverse classroom.

In his conclusion, Sunstein again concedes that conformity can sometimes benefit society. “In some settings, conformists strengthen social bonds, whereas dissenters imperil them, or at least introduce tension,” he notes.

But ultimately, he comes down on the side of arguing that we could use a little less conformity.

“Much of the time, it is in the interest of the individual to follow the crowd, but in the social interest for individuals to say and do what they think best,” he writes. “Well-functioning institutions take steps to discourage conformity and to promote dissent, partly to protect the rights of dissenters, but mostly to protect interests of their own.”

About the Author

Zaid Jilani

Zaid Jilani is Greater Good 's Bridging Differences Writing Fellow. A journalist originally from Atlanta, he has worked as a reporter for The Intercept and as a reporter-blogger for ThinkProgress, United Republic, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Alternet .

You May Also Enjoy

How Groups Shape Individual Judgment

How Good Cheer Spreads Through Teen Social Networks

Five Surprising Ways Oxytocin Shapes Your Social Life

Are You a Conformist or a Rebel?

How to Cultivate Belonging in a Divided Culture

How to Close the Gap Between Us and Them

Mind Tools by Giulia Bagnasco

Share this post.

Conformity: Why We Do It & How To Stop It

Hello there and welcome to Mind Tools. My name is Giulia Bagnasco, I have a background in Organisational Psychology and a passion for applying it to our daily lives.

Mind Tools brings psychological concepts into life through practical examples and challenges for you to try.

If I say conformity, what do you immediately think of?

If you are reading this from anywhere in Western World, it is likely that you associate conformity with negative concepts, ranging from “being boring” and lack of individuality all the way to peer pressure and blind obedience.

Yet, even if we don’t like to admit it, conformity plays an important role in our everyday life. In fact, if human beings weren’t naturally prone to conformity, our world would be a shapeless and chaotic anarchy. I will let you imagine a society where people did not comply to laws or spontaneously decided whether to drive on the right or left side of the road..

Of course, unless you have been hiding in a cave for the past century, you’d be well aware of the less pretty side of conformity. As we have seen, “everyone is doing it” is a rather flimsy justification in face of harmful behaviour or, worse, large-scale atrocities.

So, you may ask, what should we make of conformity? Where is the line between good and bad conformity? How do we stop ourselves from conforming?

In this article, I will aim to answer these questions focusing on the following topics:

1.        Understanding conformity

2.       The difference between good and bad conformity

3.       How to stop conforming

1. Understanding conformity

Imagine that you and other 4 colleagues are interviewing 3 candidates applying for the same role. You all observed them while they were completing a group task. From your perspective there are no doubts: candidate 1 was by far the best. Here are your notes:

Candidate 1: prepared, collaborative, answered all questions correctly and came across as smart and friendly

Candidate 2: barely spoke, gave an unclear presentation and came across as disorganised

Candidate 3: constantly interrupted the others, answered a question directed to someone else and showed up late to the interview.

After the interview, you all head to a feedback meeting hosted by the team leader. He starts asking the person on your left and by chance, you are the last to be asked. Everyone before you recommends candidate 3. When is your turn to speak, what do you say?

Do you go with your original decision and back it up or conform with the majority?

Though you’d like to believe otherwise, chances are that you would probably comply with the majority. If you have heard of Solomon Asch’s (1951) experiment 1 , this example might be ringing some bells.

In Asch’s series of experiments, he asked participants to choose a line that matched the length of one of three different lines (see photo).

When asked individually, participants picked the correct line. However, when asked in the presence of a group of actors who all intentionally selected the same wrong line, around 75% of participants conformed with the group.

Why do we conform?

Reading these examples you might think that conformity in these scenarios is completely irrational and that, were you in the situation, you’d stick to your initial decision. However, as much as we like to think of ourselves as unique individuals, humans are social beings wired to fit in.

Psychologists have dedicated a lot of time understanding the reasons why we conform, and here are two of the main ones 2 .

Informational conformity

This type of conformity happens when we look to the rest of the group for how we should behave. This is especially helpful when others have greater knowledge or experience than us, so following their lead can be highly instructive.

For example, if you are given a fruit that you have never seen before, looking at how others are eating it and copying them can prove very helpful.

Normative conformity

In some instances, like in the case of the hiring scenario, we conform to the expectations and behaviours of the group in order to avoid looking foolish. This tendency can become particularly marked in situations where we don’t really know how to act or when expectations are ambiguous.

For example, if you enter a shop and you see that everyone is in a line, you are likely to conform and also stand in line.

2. The difference between good and bad conformity

As I’m sure you can tell, the above examples for both normative and informational conformity are pretty harmless. That is because conformity is not inherently positive or negative and there is not a “type” that is always good or bad.

Nevertheless, out of the two, normative conformity has a higher potential for danger, as it can motivate someone to conform with the group even if they know that the group is wrong 3 .

There is no magic formula for spotting precisely when conformity becomes dangerous; however, researchers have been able to highlight several “red flag” factors 4 :

Task difficulty: if a task is difficult, people are more likely to turn to others for information on how to respond

Status: when other group members are of a higher status (more powerful, influential or knowledgeable), people are more likely to go along with the group

Ambiguity: the more ambiguous and uncertain the situation, there more likely is conformity

In addition, there is one other factor that can be especially dangerous:

Fear of repercussion: conformity out of deference to authority, fear of being punished or concern for status can lead to particularly harmful situations. When group members conceal critical information or are willing to deny obvious evidence, the group is at risk of groupthink or extreme polarisation (this will be the topic of another article!)

3. How to stop conforming & challenge

So what can we do to stop these dynamics from occurring?

Once again, there is no silver bullet, but there are some tips that can prove very helpful. My challenge for you is to try these out next time you spot one or more of the conformity red flags.

Understand social influence

You might like to hear this. The more you learn and understand about social influence, the more empowered you are to stop certain dynamics from occurring. So, now that you have a better understanding of how conformity works, you are more likely to spot the “red flags” and avoid unpleasant outcomes

Practice saying no

Take time to learn how to disagree and oppose decisions in a graceful and constructive manner. Approaching the issue with curiosity, asking questions and using constructive language can really help get your message across in a non-threatening way

Encourage debate

If saying no feels too overwhelming, focus on the fact that others might feel similarly to you. Try to encourage others to share their points of view so that you can create the space for different perspectives to emerge.

In conclusion, it is perfectly natural and human for us to be influenced by the opinion of others. However, there are ways for us to stay true to our opinions and minimise our urgency to comply with others. I hope these tips can be helpful!

Asch, S. E. (1951). "Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment".  Groups, Leadership and Men  – via Carnegie Press.

Renkema, Lennart J.; Stapel, Diederik A.; Van Yperen, Nico W. (2008).  "Go with the flow: conforming to others in the face of existential threat" .  European Journal of Social Psychology .  38 (4): 747–756.

Cialdini, R. B.; Goldstein, N. J. (2004).  "Social influence: Compliance and conformity"  (PDF).  Annual Review of Psychology .  55 : 591–621. 

Baron, Robert S.; Vandello, Joseph A.; Brunsman, Bethany (1996).  "The forgotten variable in conformity research: Impact of task importance on social influence" .  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology .  71  (5): 915–927.

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?

15 Biggest Pros and Cons of Conformity in Society

Conformity is a type of social influence which creates a change in behavior or beliefs in an individual so that they can fit in with a specific group. This change happens as a response to either real or imagined pressure and expectations that come from the group. It may involve the physical presence of other people, the pressure of societal norms, or a general aspiration to achieve a specific level of success.

Group pressures can take on many different forms. Teasing, criticism, and bullying are all common methods used to generate conformity and society. Some people make changes because of this pressure because they want to be liked or feel like they belong. Others may embrace this concept as a way to ensure that they are in the majority position for significant decisions that must be made.

Three different types of conformity are currently recognized: compliance, internalization, and identification. They can be either positive or negative influences, depending on what the outcome of the group wants with the individual.

These are the pros and cons of conformity and society that are essential to review.

List of the Pros of Conformity in Society

1. Conformity can help you abandon your bad habits. Peer groups can do an excellent job of helping you remove the bad habits from your life. If you happen to always arrive late for an event or meeting, then the pressure placed by the group to make changes in your life that stop this issue can help you make positive changes to your behaviors. Even if the only reason why you make these changes is to be liked by your peer group, the outcome still creates a positive result in your life.

2. Conformity helps you to reveal the unknown. There are many children who grew up under the watchful eye of their parents in the shelter and home life. They were not exposed to the pros and cons of each decision that the world offers. When are you coming to contact with your peers from this type of environment, you will discover what they like and what they dislike. You will then become familiar with their reactions in specific situations. This process gives you more information about human behavioral patterns, which can lead to insights in your own life. It will offer to help you make better decisions because you have more information to use.

3. Conformity can help you develop good habits. People are observational. Whether you’re at work, at school, or even a religious gathering, you are observing the positive traits in the personalities that surround you. What you experience in the circumstances will motivate you to create positive habits in your own daily routine that generate positive results. If you see someone who walks their dog around the neighborhood every morning for exercise, that might inspire you to do something similar.

When we see other people making positive choices, we want to join along with that activity because the benefits of a positive outcome outweigh the risks of experiencing an adverse circumstance.

4. Conformity aids in rule enforcement. Every society has rules for people to follow for a specific purpose. If we were to live somewhere allowed anyone to set their own expectations for what their life should be, then we would create a challenging place where it would be difficult for anyone to find success. The rules of a society are enforced through the processes of conformity. We work with one another to make sure that everyone has a fair chance to meet their goals. We create penalties for those who do not follow those rules to ensure harmony can occur.

This process happens in every society. Even friendships set rules that have consequences if someone breaks them. We place pressure on one another because it helps us to succeed, while we also get an opportunity to help everyone else find success too.

5. Conformity offers protection against outside threats. When someone conforms to society, they receive protection from other outside threats that could impact their lives and negative ways. We know for a fact that there is strength in numbers. Our ancestors had to form societies to protect themselves against wild animals and other tribes. Today, we do the same thing by developing nations, communities, and neighborhoods to ensure our mutual survival. When each member stays strong and conforms set the expectations of everyone else, there was a natural wall of protection that forms.

6. Conformity creates a safety net. There will always be people who choose not to conform to society. Those that do choose to take this action help those who decide not to follow the rules because they continue to live within a realm of social acceptability. This activity creates a safe place for everyone to live. There are numerous ways that these structures are implemented, with many of them administered through social programs that are overseen by the government. We often agree that our personal definition of success is due to the ability we have as a group to care for everyone when they are in need.

7. Conformity makes the work easier for everyone. The goal of conforming to society is one that seeks eternal harmony. People who choose to take this path want to see their society continue to benefit others in positive ways. One of the outcomes of this process is to distribute work fairly throughout the group. Everyone pays their fair share in productivity, taxation, and even volunteerism. The group sees that there is a greater good which can be achieved when everyone works together to accomplish a goal.

List of the Cons of Conformity in Society

1. Conformity often hampers personal progress. The company that a person chooses to keep becomes a direct reflection of the success that they’re able to achieve. If you surround yourself with positive influences, then your desire for conformity will create beneficial outcomes for you. The opposite occurs if you surround yourself with negative peers. Bad influences can ruin your chances at success in a variety of ways. Students might find that conformity, for example, leads them to smoke or use drugs against their will because they want to be excepted by their peer group. That can lead to health issues and poor grades.

2. Conformity increases the chances of depression. The fear of social rejection is something that most people face at least once in their lives. It creates a feeling that compels you to blindly follow the people that you want to have like you. Most don’t even give it a second thought. The moment that you express an opinion in front of this group that doesn’t jive with what the majority believes is right, then there is a good chance that negative influences will be placed upon you to change your mind. If you succumb to this pressure, then the emotional reaction in either direction increases the chances of depression forming over time.

3. Conformity causes you to lose your identity. The actions that groups play some individuals to make them conform creates a dangerous issue because it forces a loss of personal identity. Each person is uniquely different from every other. You might choose to go to a party and be the designated driver because you don’t like alcohol. If your friend starts teasing you because you’re not drinking like they are, however, then you can be coaxed into doing something that you don’t want to do. That means you’re behaving in a way that is contrary to what your value systems dictate.

4. Conformity doesn’t encourage change in the world. Although conformity in society encourages individuals to make changes that bring them closer to the majority, the reality of this process is that it doesn’t impact mobile societies. We do not experience change as a group because there is a preference to not “rock the boat.” There must be people who are unwilling to change in any circumstance to drive results.

You must have access to a system of checks and balances within our society to help determine a fair definition of equality. If everyone were to conform to do the same thing all the time without questioning the rules, it would be challenging to find moments of innovation.

5. Conformity can create an unjust world. We want to think that all societies are based on the overall good that humanity can achieve. The reality of life is that things are very different. All one has to do is look at the impact of Nazi Germany on the world in the 20th century to understand that power can be used for evil just as it can be used for good. There is no excuse for someone to conform to society when the outcome harms others. Many in Germany during World War II set they participated in the Holocaust because they were following orders. That’s conformity.

6. Conformity can lead to dependence. When people choose to conform to groups instead of turning their own course, they begin to give things over to the Society to which they want to belong. This process often occurs without the person even giving that element of their life a second thought. Although it is a good thing for society to experience the talents and skills that someone can bring to it, there must also be a consideration for independent thought. Blindly handing over your assets for social gratification only benefits the people who receive those items.

7. Conformity often leads to apathy. The desire for conformity on an individual level often creates a group apathy that becomes prevalent in society. The people who try to conform often feel like they can do the same things that the groups they observe are doing in the current moment. When they are on able to achieve that success, they look to a higher power to handle whatever problems they feel are impacting their efforts. Blind trust always creates problems in a society. It also generates feelings were people decide that issues are not their problem. They decided that everyone else should handle the situation and place pressure on others just as their preferred groups place it on them.

8. Conformity encourages a lack of diversity. The action of conformity in society will always reduce diversity. People will be getting filtering toward groups that make them feel comfortable. Groups will then combine with others to create communities that share like-minded approaches. Communities get together into parties that share similar platforms that seek out a specific definition of success. Without checks and balances on the systems, the guidelines and believes that people would have would eventually all become the same. There would be no color in the world.

The pros and cons of conformity in society show us that we need people who “go along to get along” just like we require some individuals to have the courage to step out on their own. When we have both groups active at any relationship level, then there is balance to the group. Conformists cannot exist without others who are unwilling to make changes. There must be rules – and we must have rule breakers. Which one are you?

• Free Samples
• Premium Essays
• Editing Services Editing Proofreading Rewriting
• Extra Tools Essay Topic Generator Thesis Generator Citation Generator GPA Calculator Study Guides Donate Paper
• Essay Writing Help
• About Us About Us Testimonials FAQ
• Studentshare
• The Dangers of Conformity

The Dangers of Conformity - Essay Example

• Subject: Psychology
• Type: Essay
• Level: College
• Pages: 3 (750 words)
• Downloads: 2
• Author: sandracremin

Extract of sample "The Dangers of Conformity"

It is important to understand some of the reasons why people conform (McLeod, 2007).This essay analyses some of the effect, causes and dangers of conformity. According to Mann (1969), there are different types of conformity which involve normative, informational and ingratiation. But Kelman (1958) distinguished between three types of conformity that involve compliance, internalization and identification. Considering informational conformity may always be caused by lack of adequate knowledge to the group or perhaps someone is in undecided condition and therefore associates their behavior with the group.

Informational conformity may further mean that an individually agree with the group’s views and decides to fit in that particular group (Shami, 2003). Unfortunately, even as people change their behaviors to adapt to the public pressure, some do not agree with the public privately. An individual may just force himself into a behavior he does not like just to please the public or may be gain favor from the public. However, it is worth noting that not everyone accepts to be influenced by the group or society because they value being independent and value their private lives and decisions (Sunstein, 2003).

However there are several dangers of conformity especially considering that people are at times forced to do things that they do not love doing. It is clear that when people do not do what they want and love doing then it is like denying an individual a very crucial right. In some instances, conformity has deprived us of achieving our dreams that we wanted to achieve while we were young. When an individual grows, there are always great ambitions that later fade in life because of trying to conform to a particular society (Sunstein, 2003).

Our passions and desires are always cut short because we want to be like everyone because we feel being independent is threatening. People have come up with great things such as theories simply because they refused to remain comfortable or denied to think in the same way as the society. For instance, Christopher Columbus was convinced that the world was round regardless of people’s opinions against it. Conformity is very wrong because it denies people chance to be inventive and innovative for fear of being irrelevant to the society.

Someone may simply not take the right direction because the group or the society may be against it (Levin, Carney & Barrett, 2003). It is indeed unfortunate to believe in something you are not sure about such as faith because the group believe in it. Someone may not even have the time to know more about the faith or religion but just goes into it without looking back. People may carry out some horrible and bad acts because they follow instructions that the society demand them to be (Bakken, 2000).

An individual who finds himself in a group of criminals may turn out to be a criminal just because the individual want to be accepted in the group. Many people have found themselves in trouble after many years just because they have taken most of their years doing what they don’t love (Kostick, 2008). For, instance a child may want to be a singer but the parents would force the child may be to study medicine or something different. The child may therefore do something or be in a career that is not interesting.

At the end, the child may not love the career and therefore perform poorly in the career

• Cited: 0 times
• Copy Citation Citation is copied Copy Citation Citation is copied Copy Citation Citation is copied

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Dangers of Conformity

Applying psychology to real-world issues, meaning, types, causes and effects, experiments of group conformity, compare and contract the views of society presented in equus and the time machine, shirley jackson's the lottery, invasion of privacy versus convenience and safety, conformity and obedience, the role which conformity should play in society, applying psychology to real world issues - the relationship of hate and psychology.

• TERMS & CONDITIONS
• PRIVACY POLICY
• COOKIES POLICY

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Ode — Individuality vs. Conformity: A Dichotomy in Modern Society

Individuality Vs. Conformity: a Dichotomy in Modern Society

• Categories: Ode

About this sample

Words: 593 |

Published: Jun 13, 2024

Words: 593 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, body paragraph 1, body paragraph 2, body paragraph 3.

Cite this Essay

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof. Kifaru

Verified writer

• Expert in: Literature

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 948 words

4 pages / 1830 words

3 pages / 1323 words

3 pages / 1474 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Ode

Racism, a pervasive social issue, continues to exert a profound influence on modern society. Despite significant advances in civil rights and social justice, the insidious effects of racism persist, affecting individuals and [...]

Max Hjortsberg's "Drone Poem" is a poignant exploration of the modern warfare landscape, offering a literary lens through which to examine the psychological and ethical ramifications of drone technology. This poem is not merely [...]

The National Highway System (NHS) is a vital framework that underpins the economic, social, and logistical fabric of a nation. Conceived as a means to facilitate efficient transportation of goods and people, the NHS encompasses [...]

The invention of the printing press marks one of the most significant milestones in human history. Introduced by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century, the printing press revolutionized the way information was disseminated [...]

The third stanza of John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” is one of particular significance. The poem is one that praises a nightingale that had built a nest outside of Charles Brown’s estate in Hampstead. The bird symbolizes [...]

An ode can be defined as a 'ceremonious lyric poem on an occasion of dignity in which personal emotion and universal themes are united' (Ode, 2012). Although hip-hop music is usually known for it’s violent, and often, masculine [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

The Eternal Challenge of Conformity Pressure

The inability to resist conformity pressure can have tragic consequences..

Posted June 8, 2020 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma

Stories about conformity are all over the news these days.

Why would several police officers go along with the actions of a fellow officer who was killing a man in broad daylight while bystanders filmed the tragedy? Why do most people in some places wear face masks, while most people in other locations do not ?

Conformity is a very subtle form of social influence. Usually, those around us are not giving us orders or making explicit requests that we act a certain way, but their behavior communicates a set of expectations and social norms that we find hard to resist.

Conformity: Good or Bad?

In individualistic societies like the United States, conformity is often thought of as a negative thing. As Americans, we compete to stand out in some way and to trumpet our uniqueness to the world, and in novels and movies, the conformist corporation man in the grey flannel suit is more often portrayed as an object of ridicule or pity than as a heroic figure.

In other words, we aspire to be nonconformists—just like everyone else.

Collectivistic societies, on the other hand, place a higher value on conformity and see it as a virtue rather than as a vice . And indeed, supporting shared social norms and minimizing deviation from them may help coordinate the group’s response to external threats, such as pandemics and natural disasters.

And let’s face it: We like predictability in those around us. Erratic individuals who are “loose cannons” are usually not our first choice when it comes to business partners, mates, or comrades-in-arms during times of conflict. Being accepted by your group and having a reputation as a good citizen has always been a valuable commodity, and what better way to demonstrate this than by openly embracing and conforming to the norms that the group deems important?

Research has repeatedly and convincingly confirmed that nonconformists are rejected and ostracized by groups in laboratory experiments as well as in everyday life and that this rejection is painful and aversive for the nonconformist.

Conformity Pressure Is Especially Powerful During Adolescence

Conformity pressure can be especially intense during our teen years, and evolutionary psychologists have explained why this may be the case.

As far as scientists can tell, our prehistoric forebears lived in relatively small groups where they knew everyone else in a face-to-face, long-term way. Most people would live out their entire lives in the same group, and one’s social standing within it was determined early on—during adolescence .

How much one was admired as a warrior or hunter, how desirable one was perceived to be as a mate, and how much trust and esteem was accorded to one by others—all was sorted out in young adulthood. A person deemed to be a loser at 18 was unlikely to rise to a position of prominence at 40. Thus, from an evolutionary perspective, the competition of the teen years was, in fact, a life-and-death affair.

In our modern world, even though one can move off to new places and start over, the psychological buttons that get pushed in the adolescent brain make the importance of their social lives override everything else. Popularity with peer groups can become an obsession since it is the people in your own age cohort against whom you will be ranked forever. After all, your adult status primarily depends upon how you stack up compared to them, not to others.

Also, strong conformity pressures ensure that you do not stray too far from the group’s values; ostracism from the group in prehistoric times was tantamount to a death sentence. Consequently, our teenage selves labor long and hard to cement our inclusion in the group at all costs.

The Science of Conformity

The earliest laboratory studies on conformity were conducted by social psychologist Muzafer Sherif in the 1930s. At that time, it was believed that we are most likely to conform in situations where it is unclear exactly what is going on, and so we follow the lead of others. Sherif used something called the autokinetic effect to demonstrate that this was true. When we view a pinpoint of light in a darkened room, the light appears to be moving, even though it is not. Sherif discovered that the judgments made by his research participants regarding how much the light was moving were swayed quite easily by the judgments made by other participants.

You Are a Conformist (That Is, You Are Human)

Yes, sometimes we conform because we think that others know something that we don’t. However, the pioneering work of social psychologist Solomon Asch showed that we frequently conform even when we know that the group is incorrect. In Asch’s studies, individuals had to make very simple judgments about the length of lines, and most people gave the wrong answer whenever all of the other participants (who were actually in cahoots with the experimenter) gave a wrong answer.

Asch’s results highlighted the difference between informational conformity (going along with the group because you think others know more than you) and normative conformity . In normative conformity, we go along with the group even when we know that the group is wrong, either because we want to be accepted by the group, or because we simply want to avoid the hassles and discomfort that come from being a deviant.

Subsequent conformity research has uncovered a wide range of factors that predict who is most likely to conform and in which situations the force of conformity pressure is strongest. A full listing of these factors is beyond the scope of this essay, but I would like to emphasize the fact that conformity pressure is most strongly felt when one is part of a cohesive group. The group need not be large—after a group reaches about four or five individuals, increasing the size of the group, even more, does not significantly increase conformity pressure.

Cohesiveness is often a good thing in groups, but the pressure to present a united front and to maintain harmony in the group can be disastrous, as when police officers or politicians stick together on decisions when they clearly should not. This is the psychology underlying the phenomenon of groupthink that has wreaked havoc in decision-making groups throughout human history.

Frank McAndrew, Ph.D., is the Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College.

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Self Tests NEW
• Therapy Center
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

When we fall prey to perfectionism, we think we’re honorably aspiring to be our very best, but often we’re really just setting ourselves up for failure, as perfection is impossible and its pursuit inevitably backfires.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience