Conformity (psychology)

Conformity is the degree to which members of a group will change their views and attitudes to fit the views of the group. This can be influenced via unconscious processes or overt social pressure on individuals.

Famous experiments in conformity include:

• the Asch conformity experiments by Solomon Asch, whose development of the peer pressure theory aided greatly in the modern disciplines of psychology;
• the Milgram experiment by Stanley Milgram, which set out to measure the willingness of a subject to obey instructions from authority, even when the instructions (in this case, to 'torture' others by means of electric shocks) were in conflict with the subject's personal conscience.

Herbert Kelman named three subtypes of conformity:

• compliance - conforming only publicly, but keeping your own views in private
• identification - conforming while a group member, publicly and privately, but not after leaving the group
• internalization - comforming publicly and privately, during and after group membership

See also mimetism

References

• Kelman, H. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2, 31-60.

External links

• Changingminds: Conformity
• What is conformity?

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