Conformity is the most common and pervasive form of social influence. It is informally defined as the tendency to act or think like members of a group. In psychology, conformity is defined as the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms.

Motivations Underlying Conformity

There are two significant motivators to conformity: normative influence and informational influence. Normative influence occurs when an individual conforms to gain social acceptance and avoid social rejection. Informational influence occurs when individuals seek out members of their group to obtain and accept accurate information about reality.

Several factors are known to increase the likelihood of conformity within a group. Group size, larger groups are more likely to conform to similar behaviors and thoughts than smaller ones. Unanimity, individuals are more likely to conform to group decisions when the rest of the group’s response is unanimous. Cohesion, groups that possess bonds linking them to one another and the group as a whole, tend to display more conformity than groups that do not have those bonds. Status, individuals are more likely to conform to high-status groups—culture, cultures that are collectivist exhibit a higher degree of conformity than individualistic cultures. Gender, women are more likely to conform than men in situations involving surveillance, but less likely when there is no surveillance. Age, younger individuals are more likely to conform than older individuals, perhaps due to lack of experience and status. Importance of stimuli, individuals, may conform less frequently when the task is considered important. Minority influence, minority factions within larger groups, tend to influence overall group decisions.

Research on Conformity

Asch

Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments are one of the best-known illustrations of conformity. The research participant was told he was participating in a simple “perceptual” task. The participant would enter a room and sit at a table with several other people. These people were confederates, or individuals who were posing as other participants but were working for the researchers. The participant and confederates would be shown a series of cards that had a reference line and another card that had three comparison lines. Throughout several trials, subjects were required to select the comparison line that corresponded in length to the reference line. The participant and confederates were instructed to provide their answers out loud, and the confederates were told to sometimes unanimously give a correct answer and sometimes an incorrect answer. When Asch had the confederates all choose the same incorrect answer, participants also chose the wrong line 37% of the time. In a control group with no pressure to conform, participants had an error rate of less 1%.

Solomon Asch and conformity: The image shown is an example from Solomon Asch’s landmark experiment in conformity (1951). An individual was asked to state which line, A, B, or C, matched the first line. If the other members of the group gave an incorrect response, the participant was more likely to also give an incorrect answer (A or B).