Everyone thinks that he is not like the others. At the same time, unconsciously, we are still influenced by others, we repeat the behavior of the majority, some to a lesser extent, someone to a greater extent. Such aptitude is called conformism. This is a rejection of one’s own convictions, views under pressure from society. Moreover, it should be noted that such following the majority is always passive, that is, the individual does not include critical thinking, but seems to be floating with the flow.
The concept of conformism
Since many people consider themselves unique personalities, it will be useful for them to find out what conformism is. The definition of this concept includes several aspects:
- Firstly, it is the passivity of accepting public opinion. A person is uncritical of an idea, opinion, tradition and accepts them without analyzing.
- Secondly, conformism as a social phenomenon is inculcated by education, ideology, religion, etc.
- Thirdly, conformism is directly related to suggestibility, stability of the system of his beliefs, as well as broad-mindedness. Highly suggested people do not analyze the incoming information, do not pass it through a kind of filter.
Pros and Cons of Conformism
Is conformity bad or good? Many will immediately answer, which, of course, is bad. Indeed, conformism forces a person to be like everyone else, excludes his own opinion, suppresses individuality. Of course, all this is so. But conformism is also an excellent public administration mechanism. Leaders in various organizations successfully use this phenomenon to regulate the system of relations in a group. It cannot be denied that there have always been subordinates and managers at all times; this separation depends on many factors. However, the minuses of conformism can also include a tendency to imitate in childhood. Children are most easily affected by bad influences, as they strive to be accepted by the society of their peers, so they start drinking, smoking, etc. Of course, the ability to quickly join a group and show their involvement in it is a useful skill. But, on the other hand, analytical thinking was given to us in order to soberly assess whether it is worth joining the group and blindly following the majority’s lead.
Conformism Studies
In social psychology, many experiments have been conducted to identify conformism. For example, in an experiment by S. Asha, subjects were asked to evaluate the length of the lines. All but one of the subjects were dummy and gave the same wrong answer. In most cases, an unsuspecting person, under pressure from the majority, also gave the wrong answer. This phenomenon was called social conformism. One person begins to doubt his own opinion if it contradicts the opinion of the majority. However, if the group included a person who also gave the wrong answer, but was different from the rest, the subjects more often gave the correct answer. Thus, conformism is a fear of opposing oneself to a group, a fear of appearing stupid, not like the rest.
