Hello again, Psych Era. Welcome back to another blog. It has been a while, but today I will cover a topic a wide variety of people probably know about- conformity. Now, conformity is viewed in many diverse ways in different cultures. For example, in American culture, we are very individualistic. We believe we do things based on our own merit, but how valid is that point? Let me start by saying that conformity does not mean you are “weak” or “following the crowd” no. It is much more complex than that. No matter how firm you may be in your beliefs, extreme social pressure is enough to make even a professional conform to a group’s perspective. This is due to how much people want to fit in. They will do whatever is necessary to gain approval, which is known as informational social influence.
Types of Conformity. Image Source
An example of this in American history is the Civil War freedom fighters. Informational social influence was used to teach them patience in dealing with segregation and uphold their nonviolent ideals. Members who have experienced people blowing smoke in their faces, spitting at them, and hitting them teach new members patience by recreating these ideals. They, in the end, conformed to these nonviolent ideals even if they became martyrs for their causes. It is scary to think how much fitting in pushes you to do things, even if it is immoral. Another very gory example of this is military atrocities. I feel as if it goes under the radar, but a few years ago, young soldiers shot villagers because the veterans did. This is because the situation was ambiguous. When a group of people reaches a unanimous consensus, no one will deviate from fear of getting attacked or judged, even if it involves hurting others.
Freedom Fighters. Image Source.
As you can see, conformity can make people lose themselves. No matter how independent you are, you have absolutely been a victim of conformity in your life. Allow me to elaborate on this by introducing a new term- deindividuation. Ever heard of mob mentality? This is the more “advanced” term for this. The events of January 6th are a very big example of this. A small group of people began attacking the capital causing multiple people to join. People believe it was planned, but no reasonable individual would do such a thing by themselves. Advice to avoid the idea of mob mentality is simply to think, would I do this if I did not have all these people around me? Probably not. Lastly, I want to cover the idea of public compliance without private acceptance. Let us cover the Solomon Asch experiment on conformity. Each participant was asked which of the three lines matched another line. During the first trial, people were by themselves, and 99.9% of them answered correctly. However, when the participants were placed in a room with a group of confederates, they all gave the wrong answer. 76% of people conformed to the wrong answer even though they knew it was not right, but when they wrote their responses on paper, they gave the correct answer. This shows the idea of public compliance(accepting an answer without thinking it right) without private acceptance(genuinely believing it is correct).
Victims of Deindividuation. Image Source