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Conformity

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 82 Accesses

Synonyms

Assimilation; Compliance; Integration

Definition

Changing one’s behavior to match the demands of a person or situation.

Introduction

The question of when and why people conform to social influence is notable among scholars (Campbell and Fairey 1989) in multiple disciplines, including psychology (Allen and Levine 1971; Asch 1951, 1956; Campbell et al. 1986; Deutsch and Gerard 1955; Nail et al. 2000; Smith et al. 2006; Tajfel and Turner 1979), organizational sociology (DiMaggio and Powell 1983; Meyer and Rowan 1977), and organizational management (Chatman 1991; Chatman and Barsade 1995; Jones 1986; Rafaeli et al. 1997; Rafaeli and Sutton 1987). The fundamental needs for accuracy, belongingness, and maintaining a positive self-concept motivate individuals to conform – changing one’s behavior to match the demands of a person or situation – as they attempt to correctly interpret reality, affiliate with and gain approval from social groups, and enhance their self-esteem,...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Organizational Behavior, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, USA

    Lumumba Seegars

  2. Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Patricia Hewlin

Authors
  1. Lumumba Seegars
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  2. Patricia Hewlin
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Correspondence to Lumumba Seegars .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Ashton Southard

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Seegars, L., Hewlin, P. (2017). Conformity. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1219-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1219-1

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