Conformity and Its Meaning

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Conformity and Its Meaning

This assignment focuses upon conformity and what it means to us.

Conformity is defined by Zimbardo (1992) as "A tendency for people to

adopt behaviour, values and attitudes of other members of a reference

group".

Why people conform is a topic of much debate.

People don't always conform for the same reason's, in 1958 Kelman

identified three main forms of conformity, each of which could produce

conforming behaviour but in different ways.

The first of these and the most superficial is Compliance: Going along

with the majority in order to avoid rejection or in order to gain

rewards such as social acceptance or approval. The distinguishing

feature of compliance is that the conforming behaviour lasts only as

long as the situation. Once the influencing "agents" are no longer

present, the person stops conforming.

Kelman's second for of conformity is that of Identification: The

person conforms to others at particular times and in particular ways

because these times are part of a general ...

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