Conformity, Obedience and Crowd Behaviour
Conformity and Majority Influence
Social influence is the area of psychology that studies how other people affect the way we think, feel and behave. One of the most common ways this happens is through conformity. Nobody has to order us to conform — we often just go along with the people around us without realising it. Staying quiet when you privately disagree with a group, or changing how you dress to match your friends, are both everyday examples of conformity.
Conformity is often driven by majority influence. This happens when the views or actions of the larger group in a situation gradually shape what an individual or a smaller minority believes or does. Majority influence does not need a direct instruction — the sheer weight of numbers, and the desire to fit in rather than stand out, is often enough to change a person's behaviour.
Conformity is a change in behaviour or belief due to group pressure. Majority influence is the specific process where the larger group in a situation shapes what an individual or minority believes or does — it is one of the main causes of conformity.
Collective and Crowd Behaviour
When people gather together, they can start to act as a single unit rather than as separate individuals. Psychologists call this collective behaviour. A specific form of this is crowd behaviour — the way people behave when part of a large gathering, such as at a football match, a concert or a protest.
Crowds are not always destructive. Pro-social behaviour in a crowd includes people cooperating to raise money for charity, helping an injured stranger at a busy event, or working together calmly during an evacuation.
However, crowds can also produce anti-social behaviour. This includes rioting, looting or vandalism, where individuals in a large group cause harm they might never cause alone. Psychologists are interested in why the exact same person can behave very differently depending on whether they are alone or part of a crowd.
A stadium crowd that spontaneously starts a fundraising chant for an injured player, or a group of festival-goers who form a human chain to help someone who has fallen, are examples of pro-social collective behaviour. The crowd's size and unity are used to achieve something helpful.
By contrast, a crowd that turns violent after a controversial decision at a sports event, smashing property or attacking others, shows anti-social crowd behaviour. The same features that make crowds capable of great cooperation — numbers, unity and shared emotion — can also make them capable of causing serious harm.
Obedience to Authority
Obedience is different from conformity. Conformity is going along with what a group is doing; obedience is following a direct instruction from someone with power over you. A soldier following a commanding officer's order, or an employee carrying out a manager's instruction, are both examples of obedience.
People obey authority figures — individuals whose position or status gives them the perceived right to give instructions. A police officer, a teacher, a doctor and an employer are all examples of authority figures. Their authority might come from a uniform, a job title, a qualification, or simply their role within an institution.
Obedience means following the direct order of an authority figure, such as a police officer, teacher or employer. It is different from conformity, which is going along with a group rather than following a specific instruction from someone in power.
One simple reason people obey is that authority figures are seen as legitimate — society generally accepts that a police officer or a judge has the right to give certain instructions, so most people comply without question. Refusing to obey can also carry real consequences, such as losing a job or facing punishment, which makes obedience the easier and safer option in the moment.
Symbols of authority, such as a uniform, a badge or an official title, can also increase how much a person is obeyed, because they act as a visible reminder of someone's position and power. Later lessons in this topic explore this in more depth, looking at the specific situational and dispositional factors psychologists believe cause obedience, conformity and crowd behaviour.
Conformity, collective and crowd behaviour, and obedience are the three key concepts that sit at the heart of the Social Influence topic. Each describes a different way that other people, or the presence of authority, can change what an individual does — sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse.