Confirm
or Conform, both the terms revolve around the social norms that govern
individual’s behaviour/ belief system. If we look at our social practices,
these are rigid and deeply rooted somewhere in our customs and traditions. In a
society, individual is not able to raise his/her voice against the social evils
because he/she is forced to become a part of group or majority who follow such
evil practices. This is where social conformity comes into existence. Now, if
an individual accepts majority’s behaviour because of fear of rejection then
the whole concept is modified and called normative conformity. It’s purely
termed on the basis of acceptance and fear of rejection. Therefore, if I accept
a strict diet to lose my weight in order to look slim and also to avoid remarks
of the society then it’s purely case of acceptance versus rejection. A person
adopts a set pattern of behaviour which is transferred through generations into
the family. What happens in this process of inculcating behaviour/ attitude is
that an individual starts evolving from within as well as outside.
On
Sunday morning, I came across a beautifully written article by Shikha Kumar
titled “Let’s (Not) talk about Sex!” published in Hindustan Times Magazine called
Brunch. It was relevant as it was addressing concept of asexuality which is becoming
significant as growing number of people are facing it or I would say have
internalised it. The term is hugely misconstructed in our society. It’s
difficult for asexual to gain acceptance. Multiple stereotypes surround
asexuality. I talked with few friends to
know about their understanding of this new term. Shristi and Sonali believe
family pressure creates a psychological line in our mind which represents the
highest level of fear. Another friend Bunty thinks that if asexuality is accepted
legally then it can create barrier to individual choices.
The
fear of rejection and punishment impacts individuals self confidence and
esteem. Let us recall, some of the real life examples: A dress code in
institution might force people to dress up in a particular colour, style or
manner which might be against his/her personal choices or say, an organisation
trying to suppress labourers. Whenever we are having a discussion over a topic
which is well known/received among the masses then an individual may pretend to
match his/her thoughts with that of group members in order to gain wider
acceptance. This means fear of rejection is of wider significance for any
individual.
Conformity
can be of three types i.e. Compliance, Identification and Internalisation. a)
Compliance: If I completely agree with what is being taught by professors in
the class, but at the same time I have my own opinions plus arguments which I
fear to express in public. Then it’s case of compliance. This is called a pretentious
behaviour of a person.
b)
Identification: We are fickle minded
because we don’t believe in our opinions and values. A person who likes to
drink alcohol would not necessarily drink with everyone but a particular set of
individuals who can accompany him/her. Sometimes, a person would avoid non
vegetarian food while eating with vegetarians but he / she can have great love
for non vegetarian food.
c) Internalisation: If I shift from one
particular religion to adopt practices of another and become a disciple. I will
end up following a particular school of thought for a much longer period of
time. This happens in case of followers of a particular religion.
Rationalisation
comes into play when minority questions the majority. Psychological reactance
is a feeling that arises when individual’s freedom is destroyed. Both
conformity and psychological reactance are inversely proportional to each
other. It’s obvious for a person to think his/her behaviour as most
appropriate, when they act same as other people.
Let’s
look at five famous psychological experiments to understand the concept of
conformity, first being the Asch Conformity Experiments which shows that the
peer pressure has a measurable influence on the participant’s responses. It
appears to be more difficult to resist the majority if isolated. If I read from
a particular book for my exams and the same book is recommended by professors
then it will surely be brought by majority students in the class because each
student is facing pressure of clearing exams. Next is Bystander Apathy
Experiment which tested the reluctance of a group. It’s in this case that when
you are with a group of ten people, responsibility gets distributed whereas in
case of individual it’s solely on one single person. But this is not true
because even ten people feel ten percent responsible. Say for example, if ten
students are assigned task of conducting survey then it’s easy for them to
divide ten questionnaires but if it is ten each then group will be reluctant to
work properly with responsibility.
The
third experiment is Stanford Prison Experiment that attempts to study the
impact of captivity on prisoners and authorities. Absolute power over somebody
can be seen the obvious conclusion of this experiment. When there are strict
orders from the government to follow traffic rules. Then it’s obvious, everyone
will be expected not to violate any of these regulations and follow as per the
instructions. The other experiment is Milgram Experiment, created to test
impact of authority on the normal audiences. If today, the government of India
create strict rules for migration, people will have to keep those regulations
in mind before travelling to far off locations. And the last experiment Good
Samaritan Experiment says that people in pressure are less reluctant to offer
help to others. In case of natural disasters, people will try to save
themselves first, rather than offering help to others.
Hence,
multiple factors guide individuals to conform. First is risk of rejection which
I have already discussed in this article. Then there is lack of choices where
individual follow orders of authority and fear of causing deliberate harm to
group’s goals. The absence of communication within group members can cause
hesitation in taking initiatives and sometimes also cause powerlessness. In
this whole process, individual freedom doesn’t exist.
