Conformity and Obedience | Noba

Conformity: Changing one’s attitude or behavior to match perceived social norms.
Obedience: Responding to orders from authority figures.
Normative Influence: Conforming due to concerns about others’ opinions.
Informational Influence: Conforming based on perceived information from others.

Concerns about fitting in can lead individuals to give incorrect answers to avoid criticism.
Asch Experiment (1956): College students conformed to incorrect group answers 76% of the time at least once.
- Experiment setup: Participants against confederates who provided unanimous wrong answers.
- Results:
  - 65% conformed at least once.
  - More conforming with larger groups, especially teenagers.
  - Cultures with collectivist values (e.g., Japan, China) demonstrate higher conformity.

People often rely on the behavior of others in uncertain situations.
Misperceptions of norms can lead to problem behaviors, e.g., college binge drinking.
- Research: Students often overestimate average drinking levels, leading to increased consumption.
- Correcting these misperceptions through accurate norms has been shown to reduce binge drinking.
Practical applications include hotel guests reusing towels when informed it's a common behavior.

Obedience can lead to harmful actions in the name of authority.
Milgram Experiment (1963): Measured willingness to follow harmful instructions.
- Participants (the 'teachers') administered shocks to confederates (the 'learners'), believing they were inflicting pain.
- 65% of participants inflicted the maximum shock of 450 volts.
Factors affecting obedience:
- Proximity of authority and victim.
- Observing others refusing to comply reduces obedience rates.
Milgram’s findings raise ethical concerns about participant welfare and the nature of obedience in extreme situations such as the Holocaust.

We often underestimate the influence of peers on our behavior.
Awareness of conformity and obedience can help encourage ethical decision-making in societal interactions.