Conformity is one of the most influential forces that society has on a person. Conformity is basically a result of the Principle of Consistency.

The basis for conformity in a group is that all members think highly of one another, otherwise chances are that they would not be together. This thinking is represented by the positive bonds in each of their minds between themselves and the members.

When group members have conflicting opinions, dissonance results in their minds. This causes changes in the attitudes of the members. Usually, the attitude changes will be toward a group mean which then becomes the norm.

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Members that refuse to conform will have a large number of communications directed toward them from the group. If the deviant members persist to hold their own opinions, conforming group members may begin to dislike the other members and the imbalance would resolve itself because there is no longer a positive bond between those members (Brown, 666). If the deviants are rejected by all of the group members, they are likely to be cast out of the group.

The more self esteem a person has, the more likely they are to have a greater resistance to conformity. However, the forces to conform are very strong. People like to fit in and be a part of the group and to be in harmony with the rest of the population. Only slight attractions are required between people to bring about some level of conformity, and communications are not even required. People will speculate as to what the norm may be, and will conform anyway so that they will fit in with the crowd.

In a situation where communication is involved, and members express their opinions, it seems that a three person majority to one deviant has the most influence to make that person conform. With more than three people, there is little or no difference in the pressure of conformity. Also, if there is more than one person in the group with the same deviant opinion, it is more difficult to persuade them to conform. Another property of groups where communication is involved is that external communications will be filtered as they pass through the group. This means that members will likely be exposed mainly to communications that correspond to the group's beliefs. This will increase the chance that the members will conform.

What are your views on conformity?

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People often smoke because they think their friends will like them more if they do

The result of conformity is basically that a person will become more like the society he or she lives in, and the group or people he or she keeps company with. It is such a strong force that many times people commit acts that they would not normally commit. Peer pressure is an example of this. Peer pressure occurs when a group of peers try to pressure a person into doing something he or she would not normally do on his or her own. If the person has a strong desire to be accepted by the group, or if he or she fears being rejected by it, he or she will likely give in and commit the act. For instance, evil is a property that a person whom others consider to be evil does not actually see in him or herself. So if a group were to convince a person to conform to the group belief that a certain action was not evil, then that person would likely readily commit that action. This shows that a person who keeps company with a group of people with low morality may very well be highly influenced by them and become like them, especially if that person is unsure of his or her own moral beliefs. However, peer pressure can also have a positive effect if the the group wants what is best for the individual. Then they will pressure the person to improve themselves.

Tell about the times you gave in to peer pressure