The fundamental difference between conformity and compliance is that compliance involves people going along with an explicit request, whereas conformity involves people adhering to ‘unspoken rules’. We comply with people’s requests because we like to be seen as helpful.

Solomon Asch (1951) conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. Procedure. Asch used a lab experiment to study conformity, whereby 50 male students from Swarthmore College in the USA participated in a ‘vision test’.

Asch measured the number of times each participant conformed to the majority view. On average, about one third (32%) of the participants who were placed in this situation went along and conformed with the clearly incorrect majority on the critical trials.

Conformity is one effect of the influence of others on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Another form of social influence is obedience to authority. Obedience is the change of an individual’s behavior to comply with a demand by an authority figure.

Obedience and conformity are two kinds of social influences when people change attitude or behavior under the influence of the views of others.

As mentioned previously, normative and informational influences are two important types of conformity, but there are also a number of other reasons why we conform. The following are some of the major types of conformity. Normative conformity involves changing one’s behavior in order to fit in with the group.

Nonconformity is defined as a failure to match or act like other people or things, or a conscious refusal to accept generally accepted beliefs. When you dress differently and wear your hair differently than the popular styles because you want to reflect only your own taste, this is an example of nonconformity.

Conclusion: The Rewards of Nonconformity Beat Succumbing to a Herd Mentality

• “Your Brain Can Learn to Empathize With Outside Groups”
• “Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone Keeps You Sharp”
• “The Secret to Becoming a Trailblazer”
• “The New Science of Empathic Accuracy Could Transform Society”

Someone who likes to walk around and expose themselves in public is another example of social nonconformity that is linked to a mental disorder. Other examples of social nonconformity include: Riding a bicycle backwards. Wearing clothes inside out.

Nonconformists are great leaders and they know how to reason with others, especially those that don’t see their point of view. The bottom line is that you can be a successful, happy nonconformist with a spoonful of courage and a dash of risk-taking. Its an easy recipe – just try it and suit to taste!