Conformity
the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Conformity is when someone changes their behaviour to match that of other people.[1][2]
It can happen for personal and social reasons. Personally, people conform because they have expectations for themselves. They might believe that behaving a certain way will help them reach a goal. Conformity can also happen because of other people’s influence. People will conform to be liked or to be a part of a group.[3]
Conformity happens in different levels.[1][2][3] Furthermore, the reasons that someone conforms for and what they hope to get out of it, are often linked.[4] Growing up, children learn by copying the behaviours of others. They rely on other’s opinions to be true or on their behaviour to be appropriate.[5] Furthermore, the size of the group matters when conforming.[1]
People conform for normative and informational reasons.[5] Additionally, there is a difference between compliance, identification and internalization.[4]
There is much research on conformity.[1] Two of the most famous conformity experiments are those by Sherif (1935)[6] and by Asch (1955).[7]