I stopped where I stood for a moment, realizing that I was confused and had disoriented myself. I had started to lose my way. I was being influenced by a compelling force to alter my inner thought patterns. I became stationary with an elongated pause as I could not stop believing in all the possibilities.

Nothing can allow this to be. Nothing that I could be, or anyone else I find comfort with being around, cannot believe this strengthened thought pattern. You do not have to conform; you can walk as you are. Your imperfections are always welcome to the freethinking mind.

Social conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. Humans have a common tendency to adopt their opinions and follow the behaviors of the majority.

Being accepted into this group satisfies two important desires, the desire to have a comfortable perception of reality and the desire to be accepted by other people. Social conformity is a type of influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. Humans have a common tendency to adopt the opinions and follow the behaviors of the majority.

People feel that if everyone else is choosing to do one thing, which can be clouded with right or wrong, it is probably something they should be doing. The other common description is that failing to follow a norm may provoke negative social sanctions. We conform to norms of others in an effort to avoid their negative responses.

Succumbing to peer pressure can lead to risky or illegal behavior, such as underage drinking, or conformity might lead to a bystander effect, in which going along with the group means failing to act when someone is in need. A desire to conform might also limit your openness to new ideas or arguments.

This type of conformity involves changing one’s behavior in order to fit in with a group. For example, if someone chooses to dress in a certain style because they want to look like their peers who are members of a particular group.

Norms are implicit rules shared by a group of individuals that guide their interactions with others and among society or social groups. Herbert Kelman, a past professor of social ethics at Harvard University, identified three major types of conformity: compliance, identification and internalization.

Compliance happens when we publicly comply with the group’s opinions. Compliance is motivated by the need for approval and the fear of being rejected. It is the weakest type of conformity because, if given the opportunity to get away with it, people will no longer comply.

Identification is the middle level of conformity. Here, a person changes their public behavior and their private beliefs, but only while they are in the presence of the group with which they are identifying. This is usually a short-term change and is often the result of social influence.

Internalization is the most permanent response to social influence because your motivation to be right is a powerful and self-sustaining force that does not depend on constant surveillance or on your continued esteem for another person or group. Here, a person changes their public behavior, the way they act and their private beliefs.

More extreme examples can be found in the acceptance of unjust political systems or the refusal to dispute racist, sexist and other oppressive and troubling attitudes out of a desire to conform. This is usually a long-term change and often the result of informational social influence.

Peter Sage, a well known international author, philosopher and teacher, calls the law of conformity, the “95 percent law.” If you hang out with nine motivated and positive individuals, you’re going to become the 10th. If you hang out with nine recreational drug users, you’re going to become the 10th. The only other outcome is that you leave the group.

The late Bret Stetka, an editorial director of Medscape Neurology, reported a study for Scientific American Mind has shown that kids try to blend in with their peers starting as early as two years old.

Have there been examples of bad conformity in history? The pressure of conformity brought us the Jonestown Massacre. Disciples of Jim Jones submissively followed the instructions of their tribal leader, which resulted in the death of over 900 people after they drank cyanide-laced purple Kool-Aid.

Consider also the now-infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. The guards in this trial of discovery exhibited abusive and authoritarian behavior. Using psychological manipulation, humiliation and control tactics, they asserted dominance over the prisoners. The prisoners became passive and depressed; five of them began to experience severe negative emotions including crying and acute anxiety and had to be released early from the study.

Examples of conformity include wearing a uniform to work or school, following fashion trends and following a typical career path because it feels like the safe thing to do. People are more likely to conform in uncertain situations where they are unclear about how they should respond.

Socrates spoke with emphasis about as well as believed that no one does wrong voluntarily. If people knew what was right they would do it. Evil is the result of ignorance.

Today, knowledge has been manipulated to the extent that it has lost the quality of being just with moral rightness. The acquaintance with facts, truths and principles without justice becomes conniving wisdom to be used for profit and gain.

When enough people have been guided into the unthinking harmony of compliance and insanity, they begin to believe the convictions of their overlapping and misled delusions. - dbA

You can find more of the unfiltered insight and the Art of Dan Abernathy at www.contributechaos.com.

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