Principles of Psychology in Human Behaviour Report 2022

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY
PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY IN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
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PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY1
Conformity in human behaviour
The principle of conformity states that it is a tendency of human beings to align their
attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours with those around them (Alquist, Ainsworth & Baumeister,
2013). It can stain the form of overt social pressure or a subtle and unconscious influence. One of
the main motivations behind an individual’s desire to conform is to fit into a specific social
group; for in order to be accepted into any group, one must adopt the norms and the unsaid set of
rules which exist within (Wallace, 2015). When an individual conforms, they might outwardly
agree with the group consensus even though it conflicts with their personal views, which in time,
might change to become more alike to that of the group. (Mesoudi, 2016).
Human beings learn social skills from an early age through observing and imitating the
behaviour of others. Therefore, as age increases, the societal pressure to conform to group norms,
grows. There are a variety of tactics which established social groups use in order to persuade
non-members in joining and conforming to their rules. These may involve praising or criticizing,
teasing, and it could reach up to levels of bullying (Alquist, Ainsworth & Baumeister, 2013).
Psychologists have identified two factors that heavily influence conformity namely
normative influence and informational influence. Normative influence is the influence of a
crowd-generalised response on individual responses. In my school, weekly quizzes were
organized and students used to participate in groups. There are several instances from those
quizzes, some from my own experience, where a question was wrongly answered because
multiple people in the group considered that answer to be right despite one or two individuals
realising it was wrong. This shows an instance of normative influence where the individual’s
ability to perceive something as right or wrong is heavily influenced by whether or not it is
perceived the same by the larger crowd (Goodwin, Kukucka & Hawks, 2013). Another factor

PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY2
that influence conformity is informational influence, where, in the lack of a socially deemed
norm, individuals tend to follow the descriptive norm, the behaviour of other individuals in the
same situation, perceiving their behaviour as the accepted norm (Goodwin, Kukucka & Hawks,
2013). An instance of informational influence can also be provided from the instance mentioned
above. While making the groups, it was never mentioned in class how big the groups will be,
how would they be organized and how they should change over the weeks. However it was
always noticed that the groups consisted of six people with one team leader and they always
occupied the same classroom positions every week. This displays the influence of descriptive
norm since such a structure was not officially announced but was built as a result of a
generalised consensus and followed by everyone throughout the class.
Normative and informational influences are not always on the better side of individual
behaviour. Studies have shown that individuals tend to follow the norm despite perceiving the
action as detrimental (McDonald & Crandall, 2015). Smoking and alcohol consumption in
college teens is different from that by an established adult as studies show that most college teens
resort to smoking or drinking because their peers have resorted to the same. Thus the fact that
smoking and drinking have been perceived as normal behaviour by an individual, they tend to
indulge in the same simply to conform to the norm.
Conformity is often based on the popularity and cultural acceptance of the norm as well.
Studies have shown that an individual’s tendency to indulge in hard drugs is much less than
alcohol or cigarettes because of the anti-social constructs surrounding them.
To conclude it could be said that conformity in society offers a sense of belonging and
group identity to an individual. But on a darker note, it could unveil one’s worst impulses on
occasions, through pitting them against their own core values.