Normative Social Influence Essay

Fitting in is never easy, as a child, a teenager, or even an adult. Conforming to social norms is second nature to us. Moving to a new country, especially one so unlike your home country, makes it even more difficult as social norms may differ between cultures. Using normative social influence to guide your actions and the way you present yourself in a social situation is a key component of conformity. Moving to Canada from South Africa really tested my normative social influence and how easy it was to conform in a social setting. Social impact theory allows you to understand when someone will conform and combined with normative social influence allows you to understand why as well. These can explain why I would change certain things about myself to conform to my friends. The theory that best explains my experience is normative social influence. This theory comes from conformity and explains why we change our behaviour to be similar to others in a group to gain positive access (Aronson, 2016). Being accepted requires you to follow rules of that group and this can contribute to you being seen in a positive way and gaining acceptance to the group. Social norms are implicit or explicit rules of behaviours, values, and beliefs for members of the group (Aronson, 2016). Normative social influence leads to public compliance –

I began to conform to the people in my school at the time. I wanted to be liked in a positive way, I no longer wanted to be made fun of therefore I changed my behaviour to fit in. I knew I had to do it, but I did not accept that it was right. I had public compliance but not private acceptance and this is a key factor in normative social influence. I accepted the social norms of this different culture and thus did what others did. The theory of normative social influence allowed me to conform for a social gain rather than informational