Discussion

Lecture Notes 7

CONFORMITY

Conformity is the voluntary performing of an act because others are doing it. There is no direct request made. An example would be wearing $300 athletic shoes because other people are wearing them or standing during “the wave” at the baseball game because everyone else in your section stood up. Solomon Asch did some interesting research on conformity as explained in you book.

Certain characteristics promote conformity including attraction to the group, interaction potential, status and feelings of acceptance. The reasons you are more or less likely to wear the $300 dollar shoes include issues of how important being accepted by the people wearing the shoes is to you. If you are eager to belong to that group or impress them, then you are more likely to conform and wear the shoes. However, even if they are important and you would like to be part of their group, if the group excludes you or you have very little potential to actually ever be a part of that group or you have a very low and unrecognized position in the group, you are less likely to conform. It is important to recognize the implications of these characteristics when thinking about minority members of our society. Feelings of importance, attraction and significance can influence whether a minority member conforms to the majority groups norms and laws.

Addition characteristics that influence conformity include fear of rejection or criticism. You may wish to participate in the “wave” because you do not want to stand out or have people stare at you. A person’s age can affect their tendency to conform. Conformity is less likely the younger the child or the older the person. Conformity peaks at age 12. Conformity, however, is always expected, to a degree, as too little conformity can lead to chaos. Imagine if everyone decided to walk against traffic at the mall or be totally independent in all of their behavior. Conformity explains, in part, why we so easily adapt to socialization. We are actually trying to “fit in” and intentionally observe others for clues as to how to accomplish it. Gender can influence ones tendency to conform. Females are more conforming than males. Potentially this is due to the social norm that encourages females to be more social and for males to be more independent. Social norms impact conformity. Social norms, therefore, imply that culture has an influence on conformity. Cultural values influence whether a given culture will value conformity. If a culture values conformity they will reinforce it. In the USA we value independence, whereas, in the Amish culture they reward conformity because they value it.

COMPLIANCE

Compliance is performing an act in response to a request from an individual or group. The request is from someone of relatively equal status to ourselves or less. For example your friend asks you to help move him into his new apartment and you agree. You have complied with the request. Your niece asks you to read her a story and you agree. You have complied with her request. Clearly the friend is someone whom you see as equal to you in status whereas the child represents someone who is perceived as having a lesser status.

OBEDIENCE

The most controversial of the influences is obedience. Obedience is responding to a request made by a legitimate authority. The request in obedience is from someone of higher status in the situation. For example: a policeman tells you to call an ambulance in an emergency and you obey. The main issue for obedience is the concept of authority. The definition above suggests that legitimate authority can result in obedient behavior. Legitimate authority is represented by individuals who legally, often by laws and statutes, are given the right to have authority over our behavior. The president, our commander if we are in the service, a judge or a policeman could all represent legitimate authorities. Their requests, become orders and we obeyed (See the prisoner experiment – Zimbarbo in Resources under links).

In other situations traditional authorities also elicit obedience, as do charismatic authorities. Traditional authority comes from social custom such as in the instance of a parent or grandparent. There is no legal statute but rather traditional social norms that promote acceptance that parental requests should be obeyed. Charismatic authority is “given” to individuals whom we perceive to be of greater value or significance than we ourselves. The individual who has charismatic authority may be wealthier, more attractive, and more skilled or simply have a compelling personality. Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln both were charismatic. Movie stars and models who advise us to buy a product are attempting to use their charisma to influence our purchasing. Stanley Milgram did some interesting experiments on obedience that are described in your text (see the Milgram experiment video link in resources).

One factor that can influence conformity, compliance and obedience is the presence of another person who refuses to cooperate. Conformity is much more likely if the group is unanimous. When the “wave” happens, if others do not stand up, we do not feel as much pressure to conform. Similarly, in the presence of other dissenters, it is easier not to comply or obey.

Another issue is that conformity, compliance and obedience are usually approached from a cultural viewpoint, meaning the view the culture would hold. Subsequently, individuals who do not conform are considered, by the culture, to be independent, individuals who refuse to comply are viewed as being assertive and those who refuse to obey are often viewed as being defiant. This cultural view often results in sanctions toward the individual. An example would be the “shunning” that Amish culture might enact against an individual who does not conform to their rules.