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Essay / The Social Impact of Conformity and Why People Conform or even accompanying the people around us is what is called conformity. It is a collective influence that involves agreeing with what is happening or being done by the people around us. It also involves carrying out our activities like the rest of the population. It's about copying what other individuals do so that you are considered normal. In psychological studies, various definitions have been invoked to imply the social impact employed by conformity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayFirst, a change in the behavior of a person or group as a result of the influence of another person or group can be termed as conformity. . Here, the group or person will act in a specific way because of an influence exerted on them by another person or group. Conformity can also refer to a change in behavior in one or more people at the instigation of other individuals, but does not refer to internal changes in belief or attitude. Compliance is subject to obedience and conformity since it results from a change in behavior brought about by other individuals regardless of the type of stimulus. (Breckler, Olson and Wiggins, 2006). Second, conformity can be defined as giving in to group pressure. For example, going to see a movie with friends. Friends may have thought the movie was good, but you think it wasn't. Therefore, you are forced to pretend that it was also great for you so as not to be the odd one out (Eysenck, 2004). Why We Conform There are various reasons why people conform. This could be due to the idea of looking to a group for guidance on how we should behave (Deutsch & Gerald, 1955). Indeed, other individuals constitute a rich source of knowledge and experience that could be of great help to us. Other times we conform to a certain group to eliminate the aspect of our stupidity, especially when how we should act remains a mystery and when we are dealing with ambiguous phenomena. Types of Conformity According to Deutsch and Gerald (1955), people tend to conform to others due to normative and informational influence. Normative influence involves conforming to things like rules to avoid being punished and obtain a reward, such as being liked by others. Informative influence involves behavior change as a corrective measure. In cases where our response is uncertain, individuals tend to depend on other, more intelligent individuals to guide their actions. For example, a student in a class may agree with another student's judgment because he or she is intelligent. Identification is another form of conformity that involves conforming to the things a person is expected to do based on their societal roles and responsibilities. For example, being in prison requires people to change their behavior, which allows them to adapt to expected roles. Influencing Factors Compliance can be influenced by certain factors. First, task complexity is an influential factor (Asch, 1951). Increased or decreased compliance may emanate from the complexity of the task. When people are faced with a difficult task, they tend to conform more.-2020
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