Conformity facts for kids

Conformity is when people change their attitudes, beliefs, or actions to match a group. These groups have "norms," which are unwritten rules about how people should behave. Sometimes, people choose to follow these norms instead of doing what they personally want. This often happens because it feels easier to go along with the group.

Conformity can happen in small groups or in society as a whole. It can be a quiet, unconscious influence, or it can come from direct social pressure. You might even conform when you're alone, like following table manners even if no one else is around.

The Asch Conformity Experiment showed how powerful this influence can be. In this study, people often went along with a clearly wrong group answer. This shows that conformity strongly affects how we see things and how we act. It can even make us pretend to believe something we know isn't true.

What is Conformity?

Conformity means changing our actions to match what others are doing. This can happen without us even realizing it. For example, we might unconsciously copy someone's gestures or how fast they talk.

There are two main reasons why people conform:

• Informational influence: This happens when people believe the group knows more than they do.
• Normative influence: This happens when people are afraid of being rejected by the group.

If the group's idea might be correct, informational influence is stronger. If it's just about fitting in, normative influence takes over.

People often conform because they want to feel safe and accepted within a group. This is also called normative influence. It's common in groups of similar age, culture, or education. Sometimes, this leads to "groupthink." This is when a group tries too hard to agree, ignoring other good ideas. Not conforming can lead to being left out. While often linked to teenagers, conformity affects people of all ages.

Conformity can be good or bad. For example, driving on the correct side of the road is a helpful type of conformity. In early childhood, conforming helps us learn how to behave "correctly" in society. Conformity helps create and keep social norms. This makes societies run more smoothly because people generally follow unwritten rules.

Types of Conformity

According to a psychologist named Herbert Kelman, there are three main types of conformity:

• Compliance: This is when you publicly go along with the group, but you keep your own beliefs private. You do it to get approval or avoid disapproval.
• Identification: This is a deeper type of conformity. You conform to someone you like and respect, like a celebrity or a favorite family member.
• Internalization: This is the deepest type. You truly accept the group's belief or behavior, both publicly and privately. This influence can last a long time.

Social psychology mainly focuses on two types: informational conformity and normative conformity. These are similar to Kelman's internalization and compliance.

Informational Influence

Informational social influence happens when you look to a group for accurate information about reality. You are most likely to use this when a situation is unclear. If you're unsure what to do, you'll depend on others for answers. This also happens during a crisis when you need to act fast. Looking at others can calm fears, but remember, they aren't always right. Experts are often seen as valuable sources, but even experts can make mistakes. Informational influence often leads to internalization. This means you genuinely believe the information is correct.

Normative Influence

Normative social influence happens when you conform to be liked or accepted by a group. This need for social approval is a natural part of being human. We know that if people don't conform, they might be disliked or even punished by the group. Normative influence usually results in public compliance. This means you do or say something without truly believing it. The Asch experiment is a good example of normative influence.

The strength of normative influence depends on a few things:

• Number of people: As the group size increases, each person has less impact.
• Strength: How important the group is to you. Groups you care about have more influence.
• Immediacy: How close the group is to you in time and space when the influence happens.

Famous Experiments on Conformity

Sherif's Experiment (1935)

Muzafer Sherif wanted to see how much people would change their opinions to match a group. In his experiment, participants sat in a dark room. They were asked to stare at a small dot of light and guess how much it moved. The trick was, the light didn't move at all! It was a visual illusion.

On the first day, everyone had different guesses. But from the second to the fourth day, they started to agree on the same estimate. Their personal guesses changed to match the group's once they talked about it. Sherif thought this showed how social norms develop in society. It means people often rely on others to understand new or unclear situations.

Asch's Experiment (1951)

Which line matches the first line, A, B, or C? In the Asch conformity experiments, people frequently followed the majority judgment, even when the majority was wrong.

Solomon E. Asch changed Sherif's study. He thought that if the answer was very clear, people wouldn't conform as much. He showed groups of people a series of lines. Participants had to match one line to a standard line. Everyone in the group except one person was an actor. These actors gave the wrong answer in 12 out of 18 trials.

The results were surprising: 74% of participants conformed at least once. On average, people conformed one-third of the time. This showed that even when the correct answer is obvious, people still conform.

Asch also looked at how the size of the group affected conformity. He found that as more people gave the wrong answer, the participant was more likely to conform. However, this effect mostly stopped after three or more actors.

This experiment also showed that conformity is powerful but also fragile. It's powerful because people gave wrong answers even when they knew they were incorrect. But it's fragile because if just one actor gave the correct answer, the participant was much more likely to give the correct answer too. Also, if participants could write down their answers instead of saying them aloud, they were more likely to be correct. This is because they weren't afraid of being different if their answers were hidden.

Milgram's Study (1961)

Psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a study to understand obedience to authority. Participants were asked to give what they thought were electric shocks to another person (an actor). They were told to increase the shock level with each wrong answer. Even when the "shocks" reached very high levels, 65% of participants continued to obey the instructions. All participants gave shocks up to a high level.

However, conformity decreased in certain situations:

• If the participant had physical contact with the "shocked" person.
• If another participant (an actor) disagreed with the instructions.
• If a second authority figure disagreed with the first.

Stanford Prison Study (1971)

This study, led by Philip G. Zimbardo, assigned Stanford students to be "prisoners" or "guards" in a pretend prison. The students were healthy and randomly assigned roles. The study was supposed to last two weeks but was stopped early. The "guards" started acting very controlling, and the "prisoners" showed signs of sadness and stress.

This study taught us a lot about conformity and power. It showed how situations can shape our behavior more than our personality or morals. The "guards" weren't mean people before the study. But the situation made them act according to their role. This experiment showed that people conform to expected roles. It also suggested that "evil" isn't always rare or special. It can appear in ordinary people when they are put in certain situations.

Factors Influencing Conformity

Culture

Studies have shown that culture can affect how much people conform. For example, people from cultures that value the group more (collectivistic cultures) tend to conform more than those from cultures that value individuals more (individualistic cultures). Research comparing many studies found that countries with more collectivistic values had higher rates of conformity in experiments like Asch's.

Gender

Societal norms can lead to differences in how men and women conform. Some research suggests that women might be more likely to conform than men in group situations where they know their responses are being watched. One idea is that this is because of different social roles. Women are sometimes taught to be more agreeable, while men are taught to be more independent.

The makeup of the group also matters. In one study, both men and women conformed more when there were people of both sexes in the group, compared to groups with only one sex.

Age

Research shows that conformity changes with age. Studies with children and teenagers found that conformity tends to decrease as people get older. Another study with adults aged 18 to 91 found a similar pattern: older participants conformed less than younger ones.

Some researchers suggest that age can be like a status. Younger students might be seen as lower status, and older students as higher status. So, younger people might be expected to conform more, while older people might be expected to be more independent.

Size of the Group

Conformity pressure generally increases as the size of the group increases. However, Asch's experiment suggested that adding more people beyond a group of three didn't have much extra impact. Some believe that people might start to suspect something is wrong if the group gets too big. Other studies have shown a steady increase in conformity as the group grows from two to seven people.

The effect of group size also depends on the type of social influence. If the group is clearly wrong, people conform more due to normative influence (to be accepted). The pressure to conform grows with each additional person who gives the same incorrect answer.

Situational Factors

Many things about a situation can affect conformity:

• Accountability: If you need to be accepted by a group, you're more likely to conform to their preferences.
• Attractiveness of group members: If you want to be liked by the group, you're more likely to conform.
• Accuracy of the majority: The more correct and reasonable the group's decision seems, the more likely you are to conform.
• Clarity of the task: When tasks or decisions are less clear, people feel less pressure to conform. But if the task is difficult and important, conformity can increase.
• Awareness of disagreement: When you realize you disagree with the group, you feel more pressure to conform.
• Anonymity: If you have to give your answer face-to-face, you're more likely to conform than if your answer is private.
• Commitment to the group: If you are committed to the group and want to stay in it, conformity is higher.
• Anxiety: In situations that cause anxiety, people are more likely to conform to the group's decisions.

Minority Influence

While conformity usually makes individuals think and act more like the group, sometimes a small group (a minority) can change the majority. This is called minority influence. It's most likely to happen when the minority clearly and consistently presents their point of view. If the minority changes their mind or seems unsure, they won't have much influence. But a strong, convincing minority can change the majority's beliefs and actions. Minority members who are seen as experts or have helped the group in the past are also more likely to succeed.

Sometimes, one "bad apple" (a rude or careless group member) can cause problems. Studies show that one negative person can increase conflicts and lower performance in work groups. They create a bad mood that stops the group from working well.

Images for kids

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  This map shows countries colored green for more individualistic cultures and red for more collectivistic cultures.

See also

In Spanish: Conformidad para niños