What is conformism - types and reasons in 2021

This article was developed under the heading: Psychology. Section: Philosophy.

Human life in society in many of its manifestations is cyclical, but modern science does not stand still. Therefore, scientists are finding more and more psychological and mental justifications for the simplest and seemingly familiar processes. One of these is conformism. With this article you will understand the phenomenon of conformism and understand who conformists really are.

Let's figure out what conformism is

What is conformism in simple words

What does conformism mean and what special features does psychology give it? First of all, it is worth understanding the very origin of the word “conformism” and its generally accepted concept. Initially, “conformism” comes from the Latin “conformis”, which means “similar, similar”. In the 16th century in England, conformists were Protestants who, as a result, obeyed and adapted to the laws of the Anglican religion.

In general, the origin of the word correctly describes its modern meaning. In addition to psychology, the phenomenon of conformity is considered in sociology, political science and social science. However, the basic meaning remains the same. For example, sociologists believe that conformity is a necessary element of the socialization of an individual in society. In political science, conformism is often compared with reconciliation and passivity. Social science considers conformity rather than conformism, associating it with social pressure and submission to norms.

Conformity is studied by many sciences

In psychology, conformity is considered to be a human personality trait. Conformity as a phenomenon in psychology is subject to all sorts of studies from different sides, for example, this phenomenon is considered as:

Destruction of personality in the process of adaptation (E. Fromm, G.S. Sullivan);
Value that promotes stability (R. Merton);
Ability to adapt (S. Freud, G. Jung);
Consequence and peculiarity of the influence of society (G. Gerard, D. Wilder);
An integral element of socialization (I.S. Kon, E.P. Belinskaya, G.M. Andreeva).

Conformity in psychology is the passive acceptance of another opinion, the acceptance of a model, which is accompanied by changes in behavior, acceptance of norms and values by a person, occurring under the external influences of society. That is, in simple words, conformism manifests itself in cases of entry or acceptance of a person into any group. This may concern both the model of his behavior, submission to accepted norms, rules, customs, the predominance of opinions, way of thinking, his beliefs, tastes, style, and so on.

Synonyms for conformity are: humility, tolerance, submission, passive acceptance, in some cases even tolerance.

One of the most famous founders of the study of conformity and conformity is psychologist Solomon Asch. He interpreted conformity as the human ability for behavioral adaptation, including the elimination of differences with the overwhelming majority or people from the social group to which one belongs. We will analyze Solomon Asch's experiments later in this article.

Examples of conformity in life

When I conduct trainings with teenagers, after finishing the theoretical block I ask the group: “Give me an example of conformity.” This task baffles teenagers.

The following examples of conformity from life can be given:

The most obvious example of conformity from everyday life is a pedestrian crossing, where most people begin to move only when the traffic light turns green. However, as soon as one person crosses the road at a red traffic light, several more impatient people (conformists) will almost always run after him. This is an example of external conformity without internal conflict.
Another example of conformism can be cited from the vegetable market: seeing that there is a queue at one of the counters, a person decides that this seller has a better price-quality ratio than the other. Although in reality this is not the case. It’s just that a person is guided by the opinion of the majority.
The presence of a tie and glasses is regarded by people as belonging to a business or scientific field of activity. Here conformity manifests itself in the form of a social stereotype.
Conformity is manifested in the desire of adolescents to wear clothes of a certain style and listen to songs of a popular group. Perhaps some teenagers don’t suit this type of sweatshirt or trousers at all, but they wear them because it’s a kind of pass to their reference group. This is an example of how the phenomenon of conformism manifests itself in a group of children and youth.
A negative example of how external conformism manifests itself is the drinking of alcoholic beverages by minors. Maybe one of the children does not want to drink beer, but, fearing ridicule from his comrades, drinks along with the rest.
External conformism manifests itself in a situation when one student from the group proposes to run away from the last class, he is supported by the rest, not wanting to be branded as “nerds” and in order to maintain friendly relations with classmates.
When a professor with an academic degree gives a lecture at an institute, most students listen to him carefully, take notes on his words, without questioning their truth. Thus, the manifestation of conformity is influenced not by the content of the educational material, but by the personality of the speaker.
External conformity is expressed in the fact that a new employee in the office meekly accepts the team’s tradition of going to the same cafe for lunch. He may not be satisfied with the prices or the dishes on the menu, but he will continue to go to this cafe every day along with the rest of the employees, since it is important for him to join the new production team. This is a clear example of forced conformity.
Examples of external conformity with internal conflict can be found in the psychological literature, where various researchers describe the results of experiments. Thus, in one of the experiments, people were asked to compare the lengths of two segments (the difference in length was obvious). Based on the opinion of the majority (experimenter's assistants), 70% of subjects gave the wrong answer.
Members of a literary club gathered to discuss a book they had read. One of them did not like the author’s style, but everyone else spoke about the talented presentation and skillfully constructed storyline. As a result, the young man briefly said that he also liked the work. This is external conformity.

Thus, many more examples of conformity from everyday life can be given. Examples from life convince us that the effect of conformity is present in all areas of people’s social activity. Conformity or non-conformity is everyone’s personal choice. Many are inclined to the first option, because it greatly simplifies life.

Who is a conformist personality characteristics

Who is a conformist? Following from the definition of conformism, a conformist is a person who can consciously adapt to any conditions and is able to change his prejudices under the influence of society. Evolutionarily, all people are characterized by conformism. In ancient times, the tribal way of life, constant external threats, the need for survival and continuation of the family required special unity of the tribe; constant being in danger did not leave time for alternatives, because disagreements could lead to worse consequences.

According to evolutionary psychologists, submission to the majority was developed at the level of habit, which later became a stable feature of all people. Therefore, the tendency to stay in the comfort zone is still inherent in every modern person. We can highlight the most characteristic qualities of a conformist in modern society:

Inability to make decisions alone (difficulty in decision making)

The adaptability of a conformist is at a higher level. Such people easily enter a new social group (for example, a work team, a classroom, and so on)

Prejudice and prejudice against minorities of any kind. Conformists, upon entering a new group, immediately join the majority, which leads to condemnation for example of a different opinion

Mediocrity, lack of originality, often creative thinking, that is, traditional views

Still, from the psychological point of view, most people are conformists, but the degree of manifestation of conformism can be different. For example, a conscious conformist is distinguished by traditional prejudices in matters of family, values, religion, and patriotism. Such a person may be in the political opposition, but at the same time obeys social norms and rules of behavior (the Constitution of the country, laws, traffic rules, etc.). Other opposite manifestations of conformists are more often associated with a low level of intelligence, lack of education, and lack of value guidelines. Also, the conformity of behavior of the second type of conformists may be due to the characteristics of a person’s personality traits. They are characterized by stereotypical thinking, the need to stay in their comfort zone, rejection of personal individuality, reluctance to stand out “from the crowd,” and herd instinct.

Factors of influence

The conformity of a person’s behavior in a group does not depend on the direction of the community’s activities. What is the degree of conformity associated with? Why do some people conform and others do not? In simple words, conformity is a socially determined phenomenon that is provoked by factors such as:

person's age;
individual typological characteristics of a person;
type of nervous system;
personality mood;
social status of the individual;
human decision-making situations;
features of interpersonal relationships in a team;
personality traits of the group leader.

Factors influencing conformity of behavior are the same for representatives of different nationalities.

Types of conformism

Having understood who conformists are, you can understand that, in general, conformism is not a negative phenomenon. It all depends on the degree of its manifestations. It is no coincidence that conformism in all its modern manifestations is called a complex socio-psychological phenomenon. Therefore, it is studied by many specialists in completely different fields, primarily, of course, psychologists and sociologists, since it is directly related to the behavior and behavioral reactions of people. In the literature you can find a large number of classifications of conformism, but before moving on to them in this article we will consider the types of conformism depending on the attitude towards the person himself. They are internal and external conformism.

In psychology and sociology, several types of conformal human behavior are distinguished

External conformism

First, let's look at external conformism. External conformism is considered to be that type of conformist behavior that is usually characterized by such words as adaptation, compliance, pliability, and sometimes even weak character. External conformism is a person’s agreement with the attitudes accepted in the group, expressed only externally. That is, this is an individual’s agreement with the general opinion and habitual behavior established in a particular group. Even if they contradict the individual’s own attitudes and values, he continues to obey existing rules, for example, out of fear of expulsion from a social or other group.

External conformism

Leonid Prokhorov

Psychologist, Gestalt therapist

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The appearance of conformity can manifest itself in different groups, and accordingly, people who show external conformism most often are distinguished by uncertainty, fear of public condemnation, and insufficient (possibly in their own subjective opinion) competence. External conformism manifests itself most clearly in situations when a question is raised in a group on some topic, where the individual experiences a lack of knowledge, experience, information about processes, and so on. Therefore, at the moment he passively expresses agreement with the opinions of others, however, it will be completely normal to change his opinion, subject to receiving more information on the issue at hand in the future.

Internal conformism

The second type is internal conformism. With internal conformism, the individual is characterized by agreement and approval of established rules, general opinion, and values of the group. In the case of internal conformism, a person begins to experience the presented opinion as his own. In other words, there is a change, or rather a replacement of personal opinion with an opinion imposed by the group.

Psychologists believe that the main factors in the emergence of internal conformity are: identification and the need for recognition by society. Identification consists in the individual’s effort to be like the representatives of the group due to his positive attitude towards them. Internalization in psychology is associated with the individual’s internal assimilation of imposed attitudes. We'll talk more about these factors later.

Thus, internal conformism also has two sides of the coin: on the one hand, if the individual’s attitudes initially coincided with the attitudes accepted in the group, then in this case he will feel comfortable and can quite easily achieve an internal balance between his “I” and the group . On the other hand, with a complete rejection of personal prejudices and “adjustment” of one’s inner “I” to the accepted group beliefs, a negative psychological impact often occurs on the individual in the form of a feeling of personal uselessness, worthlessness, depression and others.

Internal conformity is directly related to the individual’s desire to be like others

Stages of development

A brief definition of conformity in psychology is adaptation to life among people. The phenomenon of conformity is formed as follows:

Submission stage. It begins from the moment a person enters a particular community. He is immediately influenced by the members of this group. As a result, a person's opinions and position change.
Awareness stage. Analyzing the values of the group, a person comes to the conclusion that his previous value system is erroneous, so in most issues he agrees with the opinion of the group. In this case, conformity refers to an imaginary scientific approach.
Activity stage. A high social status in the reference group becomes a priority for a person. This means that deep down he may not agree with the opinion of the group, but outwardly he will demonstrate conformity because it benefits him.

Thus, the basis of internal and external conformity is the desire to avoid penalties, indifference and fear of loneliness.

Types of conformism

As mentioned earlier in this article, there are a large number of classifications of conformity and conformist behavior. Therefore, in addition to external and internal conformism, there are also a large number of its types. For example, types of conformism in relation to the environment and directly to the environment are active and passive conformism.

Active conformism is when the individual himself imposes on himself the need to imitate and accept the attitudes of the group and other people. Moreover, this type of conformal behavior is characterized by strict adherence to a far-fetched thought. With active conformism, a person not only unquestioningly follows his goal, but also tends to impose the idea of a single opinion, his views, on other people.
Passive conformism occurs in cases when someone from the outside, from the outside, influences and influences the individual’s beliefs. Under such pressure, a person eventually gives in and joins the imposed opinion, attitudes, and values. Most often, the person who exerted influence is considered to be to blame.

The division of conformism into active and passive types is associated with the individual’s very desire to adapt to circumstances

The following classification is based on human awareness. It is represented by conscious and unconscious conformism:

Consciousness is considered one of those types of conformity that is most rare. At the same time, regardless of external influence, a person himself understands and realizes the need to change his attitudes. Most often, conscious conformists may well not be limited to a single case of changing their prejudices of this kind.
Unconscious conformism is distinguished by the fact that the individual does not think deeply about what is happening; this is exactly the type when a person “goes with the flow” and simply accepts other people’s rules. He rarely manages to change what he has already accepted, as well as critically evaluate his conformist behavior and the process of accepting other people's beliefs, norms and values.

Conscious conformity of a person can be considered one of the types of human behavior and part of his character

Causes

What factors influence the emergence of conformity? The definition of conformism allowed scientists to establish that this phenomenon is due to the following reasons:

poor awareness (if a person does not have sufficient information on the topic discussed in the group, he is inclined to listen to the opinions of experts and trust them);
poor development of a person’s communication skills (for such people, defending their opinion is stressful, therefore, in order to maintain a healthy state of health, it is more profitable for them to silently accept the position of the majority);
indifference to the problem under consideration (if a person is not interested in discussing the topic, he agrees with the opinion of the majority in order to quickly end this conversation);
aggressive attitude of group members towards the newcomer (obeying the instinct of self-preservation, the newcomer quickly accepts the rules of this group);
the individual’s interest in membership in a given community (if a person, when joining a group, pursues his personal interests, he will agree with the rules of the community at least outwardly);
the desire to occupy a certain position in the enterprise (the reason for conformity in production may be a person’s desire to occupy a leadership position - in this case he will agree with the boss in everything);
social position in society (representatives of the lower strata of the population are more inclined to share the opinion of the majority);
errors in upbringing (if the parents chose an authoritarian parenting style or there was overprotection in the parent-child family, then psychologists are confident that the child in such conditions will grow up to be a conformist);
level of education (the lower a person’s level of education or his IQ, the more often he behaves like a conformist);
gender (for women, merging with the reference group has become a typical model of behavior);
insufficient level of psychological maturity (as a result of the immaturity of some personal constructs, adolescents more often demonstrate conformity);
low level of self-esteem (self-doubt makes a person rely on the leader’s opinion and obey him);
increased personal anxiety combined with a person’s suggestibility (in situations of uncertainty, people with such personality characteristics find it difficult to defend their own point of view and resist group pressure);
fear of loneliness (fearing being rejected, a person becomes a conformist);
belonging to a certain culture. The reasons for conformity can be determined by a person’s nationality: in the West, this personality trait is regarded as negative (associated with compliance and submissiveness), and in the East, conformity and conformity are approved (perceived as tact).

When clients come to me who want to get rid of a position of subordination, I first need to determine the reasons for the development of conformity in them, so I tell them: “Briefly describe your thoughts that arise in those moments when you agree with the opinion of the majority and give your definition of the concept of conformity."

The reasons for conformity are closely related to the factors of manifestation of conformity.

Social conformism in psychology

There is also social conformism in psychology. Social conformism is the refusal of an individual to take full responsibility for decision-making, any actions and their consequences. Psychologists associate the emergence of this type with a set of personal attitudes, accepted customs and traditions, religion, mentality, and social norms. The main factor of social conformity is the almost global subordination of advantaged groups, influential people, to the majority. In modern society, it is social conformism that is considered the most unfavorable phenomenon. This is explained by the fact that a person, even in conditions of complete non-acceptance of established attitudes, still mindlessly follows them, suppresses his own values and does not try to express his own opinion.

Conformism as a universal phenomenon in Russia

Leonid Prokhorov

Psychologist, Gestalt therapist

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Many scientists, both sociologists and political scientists, note that in Russia every year the population is becoming more and more conformist. But where are the origins of such opportunistic behavior? Historically, the population of Russia was constantly in a depressed state, which was expressed in pressure from the state. This state reached its apogee during the period of the Soviet Union, when the communist system actually turned the population of the USSR into a faceless society. The emergence of many dystopian novels is connected with this: “We” by Zamyatin, “1984” by J. Orwell.

The reasons for the conformism that developed during the Soviet period are directly related to the political and state system of equal distribution of income, the principle “from each according to his ability, to each according to his work.” It was precisely this suppression of society that became the reason for the long existence of the totalitarian Soviet regime.

Who is a conformist

Conformist

They call a person who consciously occupies a subordinate position in society and agrees with its attitudes. A person who decides to change his behavior and way of thinking under the influence of another person, including his idol, is also called a conformist. Most often, however, the word is used in a socio-political context.

In fact, most people are conformists to one degree or another. Even without openly recognizing the existing political regime, most people prefer to remain on the sidelines, taking advantage of the freedom granted by the authorities. Even those who are trying to actively fight the existing system - as a rule, using non-violent methods - outwardly show a completely loyal attitude towards it; because otherwise he will be exposed, captured, arrested, executed - and his cause will perish.

A conscious conformist is characterized not so much by intellect (even people with sufficiently developed intellect can adhere to conformity), but by certain life values. They are most often low. A conformist usually values physiological survival most of all, and almost any political regime, including a dictatorial one, is ready to provide it. The conformist either does not have any higher inclinations and talents, or has them only in those areas that are supported by the government. For example, in Russia, most specialists in the oil and gas industry are conformists, since the government has made them an elite and provides them much better than all other citizens.

A supporter of conformism most often adheres to “traditional values”: he wants to start a family and have children, he is religious, he considers himself a patriot.

However, a certain conformity is neither good nor bad, and sometimes even good. After all, among social norms there are not only destructive, but also creative ones. Who argues that stealing, killing or walking around the city naked is good? Conformity in a number of cases demonstrates its positive sides. Thus, an employee accepts the rules of conduct at the enterprise, and in exchange for this he receives a salary, is promoted, and earns the respect of employees and superiors. An even more clear example: we cross the roadway in accordance with the traffic rules, thereby saving our lives.

Paradoxically, in some cases conformity is also rebellion. By completely obeying the commandments “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not steal,” a person thereby protests against current Russian social attitudes, which prescribe the glorification of thieves and murderers. It happens that in a school class internal attitudes contradict accepted behavior at school; in this case, a student who accepts the conditions of a given group thereby rebels against school rules - and vice versa, while continuing to follow school rules, he becomes an outcast in his class.

Problems begin when conformity becomes a lifestyle. Man makes the subordinate state the ultimate goal of existence. It becomes “correct” even where it is not particularly required. In addition, he begins to tell others how to behave. Politically, a conformist becomes an informer.

Strictly speaking, any manifestation of initiative is a change in reality, which means an attempt to set new, own rules for it. Therefore, a supporter of conformism who has made it his lifestyle is a pathologically insecure person. Often he does not want to change anything even in his private life, not to mention any actions directed outward. He does not dare to quit his old job and move to a new one, even if the team there is better and the salary is higher. He is hesitant to watch new films or listen to new music, especially if they seem too challenging.

Reasons for conformity

What influences the emergence of conformism and conformist behavior? Psychologists and specialists in other fields have established some causes and factors that contribute to the emergence of the phenomenon we are considering. Let's figure this out.

First of all, among the reasons is the lack of education of the individual. The level of intelligence directly affects a person's conforming behavior. The less knowledge and outlook a person has, the more inclined he is to join and share other people’s opinions;
A certain type of apperception (human perception of reality). A person sees in conformity a completely standard way out of many situations and an answer to many questions.
The individual's level of self-esteem. Low self-esteem gives rise to self-doubt, thus a person is not sure of the correctness of his own prejudices, so it turns out to be an easy way out for him to follow the leader whose opinion is shared by the majority;
Upbringing. In the process of raising and becoming an individual in the family, parents or the older generation used an authoritarian parenting style. Psychologists have found that in families where parents overprotected the child (overprotection), conformists grow up much more often;
Insufficient level of communication skills. When communications with other people cause difficulties and stress for an individual, then in this case, people try to stay in their comfort zone and rely on more influential people, accepting their position on any issues;
Level of awareness. In cases where a person understands that he does not have a sufficient level of knowledge on the topic under discussion, most often, he obviously agrees with those who understand this issue;
External aggression. When joining a new group, an individual experiences aggression from its members, and thus quickly agrees with group attitudes in order to quickly avoid such an attitude towards himself, to “pass as one of his own”;
Social position also influences conforming behavior. It has been proven that representatives of lower strata more often adhere to the prevailing opinion;
Age. Children's conformity is considered normal, as they are just beginning to socialize and adapt to society. They adopt existing attitudes in the family, in an educational institution, and so on;
Psychological maturity. This factor no longer depends so much on age, but on the psychological processes of the individual;
Another reason may be fear of loneliness. In this case, a person accepts other people’s attitudes in order to get closer to a person or group in order not to be rejected by these people;
National characteristics and politics. For example, in the East, conforming behavior is considered normal due to established rules.

The reasons for opportunistic behavior are often related to the politics and history of a particular population

Pros and cons of conformity

Conformity is a cohesion mechanism formed in humans during the process of evolutionary selection. This means that he once helped primitive people survive. And even today it can provide a person with significant advantages, but it also has disadvantages. Let's look at both in more detail.

The main advantages of conformity:

It provides a person with psychological protection, eliminating doubts and long thoughts. Agreeing with the generally accepted point of view, the conformist believes that he made the right choice.
Conducting various social experiments, psychologists have become convinced that conformity enhances team cohesion.
The conformity of subordinates helps management to better solve business problems. It provides employees with the opportunity to move up the career ladder faster.
Conformity in matters of faith, patriotism and family values contributes to social stability, improved relations in society and an increase in the birth rate.
Obeying traffic rules is also a useful manifestation of conformity.

The main disadvantages of conformity:

loss of individuality, internal conflicts;
loss of ability to make decisions independently;
decreased self-esteem, formation of complexes;
from the point of view of the development of society, the state, commercial and non-profit organizations, conformity is an inhibitory factor that interferes with the development and implementation of new approaches, methods and technologies.

Levels of conformity

Levels or stages of conformity were studied by psychologist Herbert Kelman. He identified three main levels of conformity, two of which were already mentioned earlier in this article:

The first level is submission. Submission is expressed mainly only by external acceptance of imposed attitudes. The duration of subordination is determined by the time during which the individual is influenced by a group or one person. As a result, the acceptance of attitudes ends and the individual’s personal prejudices remain the same as they were before such influence.
The next level is called identification. In turn, identification can be:

Classical

That is, acceptance occurs due to testing the source of influence of sympathy, good attitude, and so on. Simply put, you like the person himself, for example, with some traits or you sympathize with his prejudices, and you feel a desire to adopt certain qualities from him, you share his opinion

Reciprocal role relationship

In this case, we are talking about meeting expectations. That is, you do and say what is expected of you. And at the same time you expect the same in return

The third level is internalization. It represents both partial and complete coincidence of attitudes with a group or a specific person. Thus, external influence is practically eliminated.

Levels

The essence of conformity is submission to the group. But what is group conformity? How does conformity manifest itself in people's lives? This process occurs at 3 levels:

Formal submission is a short-term phenomenon that can be observed in a specific situation. A person understands that the opposite of conformity in the current conditions is sanctions for disobedience. As soon as the threat of punishment disappears, conformity will disappear after it.
Rational conformity. At this level, merging with the team occurs under the influence of external factors. It is beneficial for a person to be in this group. He accepts the norms and rules of life in the team, obeys these rules and expects the same behavior from other team members.
Merging with the group. A person’s value system is completely restructured in accordance with the requirements of the group and does not depend on external factors.

The types of conformism and the pattern of its manifestation are determined by the reasons for the occurrence of the phenomenon. It is not difficult to compile a list of reasons for this phenomenon.

Examples of conformity

Cases of conformism in our lives occur quite often. Let's start with childhood: the child's acceptance of parental opinions, attitudes, and values. In various sections, school, university, at work, when joining a new group, a new team - in all these cases, we enter a group of people where certain rules and guidelines have already been established, where their own leaders or adherents act. Leaders, when joining a new group, play a unique role for an individual as a guide, a guide, by looking at which one can understand how to behave in an unusual environment.

In the modern world, the media, advertising and other similar sources also play a very important role in the development of conformism. Now they literally dictate trends and remain for a long time in the memory of a person who sooner or later begins to obey them.

The Internet is a modern reason for the development of conformist behavior

Conditions for the emergence of conformal behavior

It has been established that the characteristics of the group and the individual characteristics of a person influence the development of individual conformity in relation to the requirements of the group. The following conditions contribute to the occurrence of this phenomenon:

Low self-esteem of the individual;
A feeling of personal incompetence of a person who is faced with solving a difficult task;
Group cohesion - if at least one of its members has an opinion different from the general one, the effect of pressure is reduced, and it becomes easier for a person to object and disagree;
Large group size – maximum influence can be seen in a group of 5 people; a further increase in the number of its members does not lead to an increase in the effect of conformity;
High status and authority of the group, the presence of experts or significant people in its composition;
Publicity - people demonstrate a higher level of conforming behavior if they need to openly express their opinions to others.

In addition, the behavior of an individual depends on the relationships, likes and dislikes between group members: the better they are, the higher the degree of conformity. It has also been established that the tendency to conformity depends on age (decreases with age) and gender (women are slightly more susceptible to it than men).

Conformism and nonconformism

While conformism is the acceptance and sharing of society’s attitudes, nonconformism is the completely opposite phenomenon. The word itself comes from the Latin “non” - no, “conformis” - similar, similar. That is, nonconformism is non-acceptance of the majority opinion, the desire to behave outside the generally accepted framework. Sometimes nonconformists are those who have a negative attitude towards society, its norms and foundations. Such representatives also occur, but most nonconformists are characterized by rebellion, innovation, creativity, and originality.

They are not afraid to take initiative and responsibility and often become group leaders, provided they have sufficient knowledge and skills and can convince the rest of the group. However, conformists are not always able and strive to understand nonconformists, so the latter often unite in their own groups. Typically, such groups are subcultures characterized by informality. The desire of nonconformists to introduce various innovations in society is either not approved or causes distrust due to the novelty and unfamiliarity of people. But over time, their ideas may turn out to be quite significant.

Characteristic manifestations

The main feature is the commonality of opinion in the team

Many managers strive to ensure that all their employees develop this character trait. In addition, the presence of conformity is considered a priority when selecting job candidates.

Let's find out what the characteristic of conformism is.

Acceleration of adaptation. Such a person quickly joins the new team. It is much easier for him to build relationships with colleagues and begin the work process. The main thing is that it is necessary to follow existing norms and rules, which allows you to avoid conflict situations and clashes of interests.
Loss of independence. Such a person is not capable of making decisions if she has agreed with someone else for a long time. For example, when a team loses its leader, the work process may stop.
Simplifying the organization. Such employees never argue and agree with any option proposed by the manager.
Prejudice against minorities. When a person agrees with the opinion of the majority, he begins to condemn those who disagree. Healthy competition disappears, opponents are condemned and reproached. People who differ from the majority in one way or another are not allowed to develop.
Loss of originality. A person with conformity is not able to independently generate a new thought or think about other options. Therefore, you cannot hear anything unique from him.

Famous nonconformists

Among the people who were not understood at first, but then the results of their work were appreciated at the world level, we can name the well-known Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and others. They can also be called nonconformists to some extent. For example, they said about John Lennon: “He was known as a nonconformist, a rebel and a hooligan who lived as he saw fit and who was not at all embarrassed by the public opinion of the prim West.”

John Lennon is one of the most famous nonconformists

Behavior patterns

Internal agreement is a manifestation of a behavior model

Internal agreement. A person agrees with what others say and internally accepts this opinion. In such a situation, the individual has a high degree of suggestibility. This model is an adaptation in changing conditions.
External consent. At a subconscious level, there comes an understanding that people can make mistakes. This model of behavior is true conformism, and characterizes people who make attempts to find their place in society.
Denial is also called negativism. There is resistance to the majority. He defends his point of view to prove his own independence. Such people most often occupy leadership positions.
Nonconformism. The person has resilience. This model of behavior characterizes self-sufficient individuals.

How to get rid of conformity and conformity

Getting rid of conformity and conformity is not always necessary. The phenomenon of conformity is one of the important mechanisms for the socialization and adaptation of a person in society. Both conformism and nonconformism in extreme degrees of their manifestations can be equally destructive for people. Just in the case of an extreme degree of conformity, psychologists advise working towards getting rid of, or rather reducing, manifestations. So, what do experts advise in this case:

Make a personal plan for the month, year, the next five years. By having such a plan with your personal goals, you will have a clearer idea of what you yourself are striving for, rather than what external influences are pushing you towards.
Learn to accept yourself. Work on your self-esteem, try to become more confident in yourself.
Stand up for your opinion. At this point, the main thing is that your position is reasoned and supported by specific facts.
Don't take criticism personally. Especially unfounded. If you hear truly constructive criticism addressed to you, mark it as your growth zone and strive for improvement.
Listen to yourself. If you want to refuse, refuse without fear of other people's judgment if you really are not able to do what is asked of you. Respect the personal interests of both your own and those around you.

You can get rid of conformity in various ways

Nonconformism

It is not always the case that a person responds to the pressure put on him with tacit consent and acceptance. Sometimes pressure causes the opposite reaction - nonconformism. A person refuses to share the opinion of the group and quite often takes a diametrically opposed position, even if his views were initially neutral.

Nonconformism is positioned as the opposite of conformism. But in reality, everything is more complicated, and it often leads to conformist behavior in another environment. As an example, we can cite the same smoking teenagers. Nonconformity makes them resist the rules imposed by their parents. But when they come to their company, they behave extremely conformally, trying to become “in” in the team. And teenage smoking is part of this conformism.

Nonconformity manifests itself in one of the following forms:

Independence (true non-conformism).
This is a reluctance to bend under external pressure. A person simply maintains his principles.
Anti-conformity.
Rebellion against externally imposed norms. A person deliberately goes to extremes to demonstrate his protest. It is about this kind of behavior that they jokingly say, “To spite my mother, I’ll freeze my ears off.”

The same people in different situations can demonstrate completely different forms of conformism and nonconformism. This is especially pronounced, as noted above, in adolescents.

Interestingly, most people consider themselves nonconformists. This happens because they poorly understand what conformism is, considering it something purely negative and undesirable. But the irony is that a demonstrative attempt to look like a nonconformist is the most natural conformism. A true nonconformist is not trying to prove anything to anyone.

Famous experiments with conformity

One of the most famous experiments is Solomon Asch's experiment - the Asch Experiment. It consisted in identifying the phenomenon of group pressure. The subject was given two cards, and he had to determine which segment from the second card corresponded to the segment from the first. When the subjects solved the task independently and in isolation, everyone answered correctly (Segment C). And then a group was invited, where in advance everyone except one person - the test subject - gave obviously incorrect answers.

The Asch experiment is one of the most famous psychological experiments on identifying conformity.

Asch's next experiment was the elevator experiment. The subject entered the elevator and stood as usual, facing the doors (there is only one exit from the elevator). Other people, arranged in advance, followed him, and they stood facing the wall. Then the subjects, under pressure from the group, turned their backs to the exit.

According to the results of the experiments, 75% were subjected to group pressure and gave the wrong answer. Later, participants were asked why they were influenced and responded/turned around in the same way as the dummy group of people. Most of the subjects answered that they were afraid of ridicule and did not want to take risks.

Another experiment in conformity was the fire experiment. At the beginning of the experiment, one person enters the waiting room. The fire alarm sounds, smoke comes from the door - the subject begins to take actions to extinguish the fire / leave the room. At the next stage, a group of dummy people are placed next to another test subject, who were told in advance not to respond to alarms and smoke. The same thing happens - the fire alarm starts to sound, smoke comes out, but this time the subject looks at the others and does nothing. Only 1 out of 10 people approached the place where the smoke was coming from and wanted to leave. However, he was also stopped by the group “after all, they were told to wait in the room.”

Causes and factors of conformity

Low self-esteem often affects the development of conformity

The degree of manifestation of conformity, which is inherent in all people, will depend on the presence of situational and personal factors.

Situational ones include:

quantitative composition of the group;
the incompetence of a particular individual who becomes dependent on the opinions of other people;
qualitative composition of the group;
cohesion and unanimity;
the authority of the person expressing his opinion;
public responses;
the significance of belonging to a group;
work for joint award.

Personal factors include:

gender - women are more prone to conformism;
age – up to 25 years;
culture - in Asian countries conformity is much higher;
human status;
profession, in particular, the need to obey the boss.

In psychology, there are a number of factors that can influence the development of conformity. These include:

low self-esteem;
feeling of incompetence;
cohesion or largeness of the group;
her authority and high status;
publicity.

There are personal reasons, which include:

innate tendencies;
the influence of upbringing - for example, when parents strenuously try to defend their authority in front of the child, suppress the child’s independent actions, and do not allow him to express his opinion;
fear of attention - the individual is not ready to hear criticism addressed to him, so he does not want to defend his opinion;
laziness - a person does not want to independently come up with a plan of action or a solution to a problem;
low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence do not allow one to think about promoting one’s own ideas, so a person leans toward the opinion of the majority and hides in the crowd;
incompetence - when there is a lack of knowledge in a certain area, the individual may obey the general opinion.

Social causes include:

collective pressure - the more critical they are of people who oppose the collective opinion, the more oppressed they become;
financial dependence - occurs in a situation where an employee understands that the boss is wrong, but still continues to support him;
leader influence - in any group of people there will always be someone who will play the role of head. Such a person unofficially leads her environment.

How to behave

It is necessary to understand that each person has a unique way of thinking. Personal opinion creates the individual as a person. It is important to be able to compare your own thoughts with public norms. However, a personal view should always be present and come first. If it is difficult for a person to have an opinion, you need to listen to the following advice.

Look for like-minded people. If you are afraid that you will not be understood, there is uncertainty, then you need to find the support of a person who will have the same views and will be able to share interests. Such people will help make sure that the judgments were correct, and like-minded people will also suggest how best to present this idea in society.
Argumentation. In order for a person not to come under criticism from his environment, he must be absolutely confident in his statements. Therefore, it will be better if he finds arguments that will confirm his information. This will make it easier to defend your point of view and significantly increase the chances of being perceived by others.
Active action. A person who has not tried will not be able to know what the consequences may be. Therefore, you should not be afraid, but rather try to start expressing yourself. Sometimes it won’t be a bad idea to express your opinion last, in order to have time to analyze from the speeches of others what shortcomings you have.
Formation of independence. Not all people, including famous and great ones, were not immediately recognized by society. If a person is confident that he is taking the right actions, then he must defend his position to the last. There is no need to give up at the first failure.

Now you know what personality conformism is. A person must understand that in some cases such behavior is normal, for example, starting a family. However, sometimes you can’t behave like a herd of sheep and follow someone else’s idea without paying attention to your own opinion. You need to understand that personality is formed precisely by the ability to have your own point of view and defend it.

Examples

Association of students to skip classes is an example of conformism

I invite you to consider possible examples of conformism.

A situation where a crowd of people stands at a traffic light and waits for the green light. As soon as someone, without waiting for the required signal, decides to cross the road, especially if there are no cars, several more people immediately follow him. They may justify their actions by saying that they “do like everyone else.”
A new person joined the team. Everyone smokes there. Despite the fact that the newcomer does not have this bad habit, he is forced to get used to smoking because he does not want to be different from the others, and wants to establish relationships with them, to show that he is the same as everyone else.
A positive example of conformity occurred in the Philippines in 1986. Residents of this state staged a coup in the country to remove a leader who was a tyrant.
The negative impact of conformity manifests itself in a situation where a large number of people follow the orders of their leader, but do not have their own opinion, commit actions that may completely contradict their point of view, and all because they are afraid of disobedience. A striking example of such a case is the fascist army, which carried out punitive actions against innocent people during the Second World War.
Starting a family is also a manifestation of conformity. A person, in essence, gets rid of his own opinion and is forced to agree with his partner in order to avoid conflicts.
A case when several students decide to skip a couple. Most do the same. A person justifies his action by saying that he is doing “like everyone else.”

How does the social form of conformism manifest itself?

Social conformity is an uncritical change in one's own perception of the world in order to conform to the norms established by society. Such a model of behavior does not imply resistance to mass standardization, despite the fact that the individual may not internally accept such attitudes. The vast majority of people calmly perceive economic and socio-political changes, without trying to express their own dissatisfaction with the current situation.

According to experts, the social form of conformism is a kind of refusal to take on any responsibility and blind submission to the demands of society. Often this pattern of behavior is explained by established traditions and mentality.

Motives for conformism

There are three main motives for conformist behavior. These are the fear of rejection
, the desire
to be right,
and the presence of sanctions for
following or not following group norms
. In this context, normative conformism and information conformism appear.

Normative conformism

is a type of conformity that is motivated by the fear of being rejected by a group or the desire to be accepted by a group. Because we fear rejection or ridicule, we conform to the behavior of others in the group.

Information conformism

motivated by the desire to be right and to take appropriate, correct and appropriate actions. Because we often don't know what appropriate behavior is, we imitate others, understanding that if someone behaves this way, this is the right thing to do.

We are also mobilized to conformist behavior due to the presence of sanctions for both compliance with group norms (positive sanctions) and non-compliance (negative sanctions).

Are you a nihilist, or do you simply not care about everyone and everything?