The purpose of conformity is to avoid the complete loss of social support

When peers who hold the same dissent provide a certain level of social support, the loss of group social support is not absolute. However, when the originally supportive peers abandon the participant and begin agreeing with the majority opinion, the power of the majority reasserts its maximum efficacy—the rate of conformity rises again to 30%. Therefore, in the situation set up by Asch, the primary force at play is undoubtedly normative social influence rather than informational influence.

Normative Influence

The key role of normative influence is also very obvious in other experiments. When participants are allowed to answer privately, meaning their answer will not be seen by the majority, the rate of conformity is much lower. If you like the people in the majority, you will certainly exhibit more conformity, because you hope they will like you instead of expelling you from the group.

Confidence Also Affects Conformity

When you are choosing fashion suitable for a certain event that matches your personal style, are you confident in your ability? If the answer is yes, then you might be indifferent to those street TV interviews about “this year’s trends.” However, those who lack confidence in their “sense of style” often quickly decide what new clothes to purchase based on these TV programs.

The Difficulty of Saying “No”

  • People exhibit conformity both to maintain social acceptance and to increase their chances of acting correctly in uncertain situations.
  • The stronger these individual motivations are, the stronger the group’s attraction and cohesion, and the greater the pressure exerted by the group on the individual.
  • Because this pressure depends on how the individual reacts to the group, it is impossible for the individual to easily resist it.

If Hitler told you to shock a stranger, would you comply?

Milgram’s shock experiment tells us that human nature is willing to do evil under command, even exceeding the command given above. This can also explain the behavior of sycophants, as releasing human evil simultaneously allows them to show loyalty and gain merit.