Conformity

The term conformity is common in everyday usage, and as such, many people have a tacit understanding of what the word means. Broadly speaking, conformity refers to changes in an individual's attitudes and/or behaviors in response to the real or imagined presence of others. Those “others” may be individuals, groups, organizations, regulations, or policies. In some instances, individuals may alter their attitudes and behaviors to correspond to those of others. For example, adolescents may change their styles of clothing to correspond to what the popular kids at school are wearing. In other instances, individuals may alter their attitudes and behaviors at the request of others, which is referred to as compliance. For example, a panhandler may ask for spare change, a dining companion may ask someone to pass the salt, or a librarian may ask patrons to keep their voices down. In other circumstances, individuals may alter their attitudes and behaviors at someone else's directive (rather than request), which is called obedience. For example, parents may tell their son to stop hitting his sibling, security personnel at a shopping mall may direct a group of adolescents to stop loitering, or traffic laws may dictate to citizens that they must stop their vehicles at a red light. Although by definition, all three instances constitute particular forms of conformity, the term is most commonly used only in the first instance, whereby individuals alter their attitudes and behaviors to correspond to those of others. In the other two instances, the specific terms compliance and obedience tend to be used. The processes by which conformity emerges and the relationship between conformity and “deviance” are important areas to explore.