Conformity is a form of social influence behaviour why by an individual alters, either consciously or unconsciously, his beliefs or behaviour so as to match that a wider group due to the various different physical or psychological pressures, such as social expectations, that may arise from it.
There are four major types of conformity as set out by the psychologist Herbert Kelman:
Compliance: This a public form of conformity cause by fear of rejection or a desire to fit in, differing private beliefs may still be held.
Identification: Conforming to someone who is liked or respected.
Internalization: Accepting and adopting a wide spread belief or behaviour due to a belief of its credibility/legitimacy.
Similarly to compliance there is a fourth but often less emphasised form of conformity: Integration. This is where by one changes there behaviour to seek the approval of others not out of fear of rejection but need for social rewards.
Similarly to compliance there is a fourth but often less emphasised form of conformity: Integration. This is where by one changes there behaviour to seek the approval of others not out of fear of rejection but need for social rewards.
It is usually seen that compliance is the weaker of the three where as internalization is the strongest and often the hardest to break away from. However despite this it is compliance that I find the most interesting. This is due to how widespread and pervasive it is in all forms of society, particularly our consumer based one, where as, given its nature, internalization is usually limited to more totalitarian societies/cultures.
Furthermore after looking at theories of philosopher Hannah Arendt I found it fascinating and to be honest quite frightening, just how powerful this public need to confirm can be. This is due to the fact that she argued that in Nazi Germany the key reason behind how so many atrocities were able to take place was not due to the common Nazi citizen having psychopathic tendencies or truly believing in their cause, although arguably this was the case with younger generations who had been internalized to some extent, but rather due to overwhelming pressures to conform socially. This theory is now widely excepted and has been further confirmed by the Milgram experiment whereby participants were told to shock others, who were in fact actors, if they got a question wrong, even to the point where the volts were powerful enough to kill a person, although they had not been informed this. The experiment found that, despite it causing them considerable stress, many participants would still issue the supposedly lethal shocks simply because they had been told to by an authority figure.
Where as in my essay I primarily explored how brands manipulate the individual, resulting in conformist actions and habits, I am going to use this visual response to explore how in fact humans have a deep rooted tendency and need to conform. In his article, You Are a Conformist (You are Human) Noam Shpancer argues this is the case stating:
'Human beings are herd animals. We survive in highly coordinated groups. Individually, we are designed to pick up social cues, coordinate and align our behaviour with those around us. Recent research has shown that social disapproval provokes the brain's danger circuits. Conformity soothes.'
It is this line of thinking that will be underpinning my subsequent visual research and exploration.
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