Normative Conformity

Conformity is a form of social influence, when we conform we act and think like members of our group. Often people even alter or change their personal beliefs to match those around them. When we conform we feel pressured to fit in with others, to be a part of the majority. While we may still have contradicting beliefs towards things, we change our behaviors and actions to match what everybody else is

When Donald Trump, ultra-wealthy plutocrat and resentful “man of the people,” won the New Hampshire Republican primary days ago, it was, to young and old alike across the nation, one of the saddest occurrences in politics in many years. Trump had run as, in the words of Jon Stewart, “America’s id”—the angry voice telling us to abandon our principles and “Make America Great Again,” whatever that demands of us. Deport the immigrants. Ban the Muslims. Torture the terrorists.

In pyschology conformity can be descibed as an indiviual’s tendency to follow the unspoken rules or behaviours of the social group to which he/she belongs to or wants to be apart of. Many psychologists including , Jenness (1932), Sherif (1935) both experimented in psychology, investigating conformity and group pressure. However, perhaps the most famous conformity experiment was done by Solomon Asch (1951) and his line judgment experiment. (McLeod 2007)

Conformity is often described as behaving the same way as everyone else to fit in. While it often has a negative connotation, conformity is an interesting phenomenon that is present in all parts of human society and can be both good and bad. Conformity is a theme present throughout many literary works, and there have been countless studies on it and its effects on people. Some of the most interesting examples can be seen in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Lemming Condition, and the Milgram Experiment.

Most of society conforms as a whole, otherwise one may appear to be “outside” of the society that they live in, becoming unconventional or dangerous to the “norm” of their society. These conventions have a major role within society because they are general agreements on a social behavior. The force making toward conformity in society is essentially the stability of the society itself, which is created by people conforming to please others. However, people who do not

Often times in life people will feel it necessary to conform in order to fit into certain groups of people. When a person conforms it usually leads to them changing the way they behave. This

Conformity is a type of social influence which involves a change in behaviour and belief of a minority to fit in with the group concerning real or imagined group pressures. This behaviour could be defined as the pressure to behave in ways that are viewed as acceptable by a particular group, brought about either by a desire to ‘fit in’ or be liked. The main factor that influences conformity are social norms. Social Norms are a pattern of expected behaviour in certain situations either implicitly or explicitly. Conformity exists in two categories, normative influence where the individual’s desire is to gain social approval and acceptance from the group to make a favourable impression. And informational social influence where a person is looking for guidance in an ambiguous situation as the individual listens to other member 's views and opinions to be guided to an answer. Conformity is distinguished in three different types; Compliance is the most superficial type of conformity. It refers to a person who conforms publicly with the views and attitudes expressed by the group but still continue to privately disagree. This temporary short term behavioural change which often results normative social influence. For example, It is a student 's first day of college, but has arrived late and missed the induction to which he doesn 't know where to go. He then sees a group of students filing off towards a corridor and

There is a fundamental human need to belong to social groups especially if people were to live and work together, it is likely that they need to agree on common beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviours in order to get along and fit-in. Thus, we learnt to conform to rules of other people, the more people see others behaving in a particular way or making particular decisions, the more likely people will feel obliged to follow the suit. This is called conformity and can be defined in different ways, Aronson, Wilson & Akert (2014) stated it is the changing of one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people. According to Deutsch and Gerard (1955), social influence should be distinguished into two types, the informational social influence and normative social influence. The occurrence of social influence has implied to many real life events, which has drawn many researchers to attention. This has lead many researchers to design distinct experiments to try and understand the cause of the conformity, whether conformity is situation dependent, and whether we are able to resist social influences.

We can see from these forms of conformity that people act in accordance with others for many different reasons and also that conformity isn't necessarily a bad thing. However our likelihood of conforming to others is partly dependant on our own opinion of ourselves as well as other people's demands on us. There have been many studies over the years by various psychologists, including: Triplett (1898) and his "fishing reel" experiment, Sherif (1936) and the "Autokinetic effect" experiment involving the various moving lights,

According to Webster Dictionary, conformity is defined as, “in compliance of rules, laws, or standards.” Mark Twain’s, “Cone-pone Opinions,” demonstrates how society reacts to new conformities; individuals eventually conform to popular ideas and inevitably abandon these ideas for something greater. Twain states, “It is our nature to conform; it is force which not many can successfully resist.” (Twain 2). The reason people conform is not for self-approval, but rather, for the approval of others.

“Social influence is the process by which the actions of an individual or group affect the behavior of others” (Feldman 495). These influences are strongly experienced by members in the group. Every group is unique and is mostly guided by a particular norm and behavior. An individual in a group passively or actively allows himself to be influenced by the group just to have a sense of belongingness. In the bid to prevent being excluded or rejected from a group, some individuals overtly adhere to the norms of the group. “Thus, people conform to meet the expectations of the group” (Feldman 495).

Also, the environment represents the interpersonal distance between the two people. For those who are having a blind date, it is neither proper for them to stay closely like the official couples, nor to keep long distance like acquaintances. Sense of awkwardness can also appear when the two stay too close to each other at the first date. According to Expectancy Violations Theory by Judee Burgoon, a communication scholar at the University of Arizona, personal space is invisible and variable that defines people’s preferred distance from the others (Griffin, Ledbetter, Sparks, 2015). Edward Hall, an anthropologist at Illinois Institute of Technology attached great significance to respecting others’ personal space and adjusting nonverbal behavior

Conformity is a concept that has been heavily researched in the field of social psychology. Conformity is defined as a change in behavior, beliefs, and attitudes due to group pressure perceived as real (encompassing the presence of others) or imagined (encompassing the pressure of social standards) (Myers, 2010, p. 192). The concept of conformity is a powerful influence on the tendency for people to arrange their thoughts, perspectives, and ideas with others, especially when in a group. This takes away from a person’s individuality because they want to feel accepted by others and therefore, a person will accomplish this basic need of approval through conforming.

This is a huge personal pet peeve. The fact that this is occurring supports the diversity that is seen in our society. Every individual takes a side, only that side is right due to evidence being gathered on that side, although there is the same amount if not more information about the opposing side. Instead of agreeing to disagree to the fact that everyone has the right to their own opinion, we divide. What begins as a simple facebook post this day in age, quickly escalates to full blown arguments which typically ends with termination of the friendship. Another example involving conformity that involves the normative influence is in classroom settings. To specify, when there is a class and everyone is striving positively with good grades as well as additional minor achievements except for one student, that student typically will go above and beyond outside of the classroom to try to accomplish what the other students are achieving. On the other hand if that particular student does not try harder and consistently sees bad markings, others will judge them or look down upon

Data collection is a crucial part project design and an important research tool. Data is what investigative research or study is seeking for and which are exposed to exploration, statistical procedures, as well as interpretation so that implications, generalisations, or principles are drawn. Data likewise discloses unsatisfactory conditions that require improvement. The use of newly discovered principles and facts to remedy unsatisfactory conditions serve as the foundation of human progress and the enhancement of the quality of human life. This paper reflects on the Data Collection Project titled “The Role of Adults in the Students’ Learning.” This topic was particularly chosen because it is the view of the author that this topic has not yet been fully explored and studied. Research questions were formulated based on this topic.