Conformity Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Conformity - Term Paper Example As said above, there are several factors that determine the impact of this process. A brief explanation of how some of these factors affect the psychology of a person is provided with apt examples. Conformity is an interesting topic to be discussed in the field of social psychology because the degree to which it affects each person is completely dependent on the external factors. There is also another dimension to it wherein the individual conformity comes into picture. Here, the individual by themselves accept the norms of the group they belong to and follow them. As an individual belonging to any particular group, there are always some norms and cultural rules that need to be followed in order to be in social coherence with the group. The individuals are under immense pressure to follow them so as to be considered a part of that group. In the current world, the generation of youth and peer pressure is forcing more of individuals to succumb to the thoughts of superior groups within their community. They just have to do it to survive that atmosphere. Conformity is more of a group culture inference. Hence the size of the group, their cohesion and the status of each individual in the group play a major part. There are also pundits who believe that conformity is more of a culture oriented subject. They believe that it varies based on different cultures. Asch (1956) has demonstrated an example to prove that conformity is related with culture. He showed that an individual's judgment about a generic issue will be influenced by the norms of the group he belongs to, even though his individual assessment of the same contradicts. All the experiments done by these people have shown that the socio-cultural norms have an impounding effect on the individual conformity exercised. (Asch 1956) Variances of Conformity With the generic meaning of conformity being discussed, the three variances of conformity need to be mentioned. Herber Kelman, famous professor of social ethics had defined three variations of conformity. They are discussed below. Compliance Compliance is a form of conformity where a person, although disagrees about a certain topic within himself, acts to comply with the others in order to please them or to make them feel comfortable. This kind of act can either have a positive effect or a negative on the individual. Basically, a certain line of reference needs to be drawn such that the person can comply with others in order to please them but have to make sure he or she doesn't lose their self esteem in doing so. An example of such activity would be in a professional environment where a worker has to comply with their boss over any kind of issue in order to satisfy them.( Dittes et al 1956) Identification Identification is rather an alternate way of looking at compliance wherein the individual admittedly follows the values and norms of other persons they like. They willingly want to follow them, their roles and be like them. In some cases, it is how they would have been brought up. An example of such a scenario is where an individual follows the footsteps of his/her father and follows his ideals and values. It is because either he/she liked it or it is the way they are brought up. ( Dittes et al 1956) Internalization Internalization is one form which in most cases has the highest probability of causing negative vibes within a person. It is where a