Culture and Conformity

Why do we conform to those around us? Do you feel like you might be falling for social influences too much?

We conform to a majority belief or norm for one of two reasons: we want to fit in, or we are unsure how to behave or what to believe. We also know the consequences of standing out or being wrong. For example, when we wear an outfit that stands out, we could be made fun of or even isolated. However, social influences can push us to conform to beliefs and actions that we don’t agree with. Well, lucky for you, you can prime your brain to be more resistant to social influences and to think independently. We are constantly surrounded by stimuli and influences that affect how we choose to behave. Through priming, you can influence the way your brain processes these influences and therefore resist them. We are going to look at two psychological studies to show you how to hack your brain to resist social influence and understand its role.

So, what is priming?

Priming, in a psychological sense, is where exposure to one stimulus influences the

response to another stimulus. The first stimulus primes the response to the second. A simple example of priming is word association. For example, a person who is exposed to the word “dog” will be faster to recognize the word “cat” than say the word “poetry”. This is because the word “dog” primed their brain to recognize animal words. Priming is in effect in our real lives too. We see it via context in a social situation. The Pendry & Carrick 2001 study and the Hoying-Fu et al. 2007 study shows how priming certain contexts influence the response to social influences.

How does priming influence social influence?

Doing what the mob do, a study done by Pendry & Carrick 2001, examines how social behavior and influence can be affected by priming. They explore “automatic social behavior”; automatic social behavior is described as when someone acts in accordance with the prime without consciously knowing about it. More specifically, this study investigates whether “conformist/nonconformist behaviors” can be brought up by social priming techniques.

To test this, the researchers looked at a population of undergraduate students. The participants thought they had signed up for a study in “aural discrimination.” When they arrived at the experiment, the participants were asked if they could help out someone else with their research by giving an opinion on the pictures they were using. This was the social prime in disguise. It was important that the participants not know they were being primed. The pictures they saw were either of an accountant or a punk rocker. The experimenters used the accountant to prime conforming behaviors and the punk rocker to prime nonconforming behaviors. After they viewed the “other researcher’s” photos, the participant was directed into a room where 2 other people were already sitting. The people who were in the room were confederates. Confederates are people who are “in” on the study. The participant was then seated in the chair farthest from the experimenter. Then, a series of 100 tones were played to the group, and they were asked to count them. They were then asked to tell the experimenter how many tones they counted, and the confederates of the study were instructed to overestimate the number of tones by saying they heard 125. Then the participant was asked to give their response. The participant answered after hearing the confederates’ answers to see if they would say that they heard 125 tones too, despite it being wrong. They wanted to see if the confederates’ answers would influence the participant’s answers. It was shown that the participants exposed to the punk rocker photo at the beginning conformed to the group answer significantly less than those primed with the accountant photo.

This research shows how the people we associate with can influence our behavior. This means that our choices can be influenced by those around us just because of the associations our brain makes subconsciously.

Another study relates to cultural conformity. Using a population of Chinese undergraduates, Hoying-Fu et al. 2007 look at differences between western and eastern cultures and how priming a cultural context can vary the support of equity or equality. It has been shown that, overall, Americans value equity and the Chinese value equality. First, the participants were instructed to watch a short film that depicted American culture or Chinese culture. This was the prime. Then, the participants were given a story to read where two workers worked on a project together. Worker 1 did twice as much work as Worker 2. In the story, Worker 1 was told to divide up the money they earned for doing the project. The stories varied by making the division of the money equitable, related to the amount of work they did, or equal, both got the same amount of money. They found that when the Chinese cultural prime was present, the participants rated the equality story as more fair than the equity story. Also, they found that when the American cultural prime was present, the participants rated the equity story as more fair than the equality story.

This article shows how there are often cultural stimuli that can influence the way we perceive fairness. This shows how our feelings are susceptible to social influence.

How can this information help you?

Both of these studies indicate that a prime, a stimulus, affects the way that we behave in social situations. Pendry et al. 2001 shows how this is true in the association with a conforming or nonconforming group. This means that the people we expose ourselves to can subconsciously affect whether or not we conform to the social influences around us. Hoying-Fu et al. 2007 showed that even a reminder of what culture you belong to can influence what you believe to be fair or unfair.

So, what can you do about it? How can you resist these social influences? To start off, start recognizing situations where you feel social pressure. When you do this, you can evaluate what perspective you will use to make a decision about your own behavior. Also, control what primes you. If you want to be more free-thinking, expose yourself to more free-thinking people. As shown by the Pendry et al. 2001 study, it could be as simple as showing yourself a photo of a non-conforming person.

Overall, you are in control of when you conform. With the information about priming, you can even hack your brain to be resistant to the social influences that surround you. You are able to identify where your perspective comes from and make a justified, independent decision about how and who you want to be.

References

Fu, J. H., Morris, M. W., Lee, S., Chao, M., Chiu, C., & Hong, Y. (2007). Epistemic motives and cultural conformity: Need for closure, culture, and context as determinants of conflict judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(2), 191–207. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.2.191

Pendry, L., & Carrick, R. (2001). Doing what the mob do: Priming effects on conformity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31(1), 83–92. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.33