Types of Conformity

• Conformity


  When someone changes their usual behaviour to fit in with the behaviour of the group
• Conformity


  When someone feels that they will be rejected by the group if they do not align their behaviour with the group's behaviour
• Conformity


  When someone may express opinions that align with those of the group even if they do not (secretly) agree with those opinions
• Conformity


  When someone may feel a sense of group pressure which leads to them going along with the group (even if such pressure is only in their imagination)
• All of the above examples of conformity are examples of majority influence i.e. the few are influenced by the many
• Types of conformity


  • Compliance
  • Identification
  • Internalisation
• Compliance


  Agreeing with/behaving like the group on the outside/publicly but disagreeing with/having different opinions to the group on the inside/privately
• Compliance


  • Eating only vegetarian food and claiming to be vegetarian with a particular group of friends, but still eating meat when not with that group
  • Laughing at a joke which someone does not find funny (and may in fact find offensive) because everyone else is laughing
• Compliance


  The weakest type of conformity as it only involves surface/superficial change and it ceases when someone is not with the group
• Identification


  Temporarily adopting the behaviour of a role model or group if they value the group and wish to be included in it
• Identification


  Conforming to the expectation of a social role (e.g. police officers, nurses, teachers)
• Identification Example


  • Dressing in the same style as a group of people at college as they admire them and would like to be part of that group
  • A teacher believes that detentions are a waste of time but they still issue detentions on a daily basis as this is school policy
• Identification


  Changes in behaviour driven by identification are usually short-term as the individual is still not completely in agreement with the group (if only in private)
• Internalisation


  Accepting and agreeing with the group publicly and privately i.e. they have internalised the group's norms

  The strongest type of conformity, leading to long-term change
• Internalisation


  The strongest type of conformity, leading to long-term change
• Internalisation


  • Becoming wholly involved in the attitudes, ideals and behaviours of an extreme political group, renouncing all of their former beliefs and possibly cutting ties with people from their past
  • Moving to a new school and changing the way they dress, their hobbies, their attitudes etc. to align with classmates from the new school