According to the American Psychological Association glossary of psychological terms (2013), conformity is the inclination of an individual to adopt similar beliefs, behavior and attitude as other members of a given group he/she is trying to fit in to. It is characterized by complying with group pressure. Conformity occurs where there are set expectations for a particular person to belong to a particular group or play a given role. People are often inclined to change in order to meet the set expectations and belong to the group.
In employment, people often conform to the assigned roles in order to meet the requirements of their job description. People change in order to get the job done even when it is against what they believe in as long as it meets the expectation set. In addition, gender roles set in the society encourage conformity. An example is living in a patriarchal society where women are considered as nurturing and submissive while the man is considered as a leader and aggressive. In such a society, the woman conforms to the society’s expectation though she can have great achievements as the man. Another example is where a teacher assumes the manners and attitudes of a ‘teacher’, which might be different to the manners and attitudes they assume with their friends when outside the school.
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Human beings are designed to follow orders and fit in. They change from wanting to be good to doing a good job when authority figures are involved. It becomes apparent that human beings easily conform to authority even when it goes against what is right. Their efforts are geared towards pleasing the “boss”. Such behavior of conforming to Submission can be easily identified in schools, employment and other forms of governance. In schools for example, students are always trying to please their teachers, always following the set rules without questions. Similarly, at places of employment, employees follow commands, instructions and directions without question as long as they get the work done.
The prison guard and prisoner relationship can be easily identified at places of employment and schools. The relationship between a boss and his subordinates usually falls into place effortlessly. The junior employees are always working towards pleasing the boss while falling into the daily routine expected. On the other hand, the boss knows his position on the hierarchy and acts accordingly. A similar example is found in schools. The students know what is expected of them and conform accordingly while the school management and teachers take the position of authority and act as expected of them. It has been argued that the results of the Prison guard-prisoner study demonstrate the submission and malleability of people when provided with a legitimate ideology together with institutional and social support. It also indicates that environmental factors have a significant effect on behavior.
References
American Psychological Association. (2013). Glossary of psychological terms.
Thibaut, J. W. (2017). The social psychology of groups . Routledge.
