Conformity And Normative Social Influence

The need to be liked or to simply “fit in” has become, for some people, a top priority around the world today. Whether it may be dressing according to the current clothing trend, just hanging at the same social scene that everyone goes to on Friday night, or maybe even getting that popular haircut that all the guys have, ultimately, people yearn to be just right. According to social psychology, conformity causes people to yield such behavior and to act according to other’s behavior. For example, within the African American culture, the return of natural hair styles, which constitutes afros, kinky curls and many other hairstyles that does require the use of processing or straightening chemicals, have strongly promoted conformity. It has promoted conformity so strongly, that I have even begun to wear natural hair styles because of the popularity within our culture.
Even though I had noticed many people following trends that were displayed by society, I did not realize that it was conformity until I was in social psychology. In social psychology, I learned of the two types of conformity, Informational Social Influence and Normative Social Influence, both of these categories of conformity have allowed me to understand that much of my social behavior has not been from single- minded decisions but has been the result of conformity. Even though many people will not admit that their behavior is conforming to others, conformity has been proven to be a social