CONFORMITY: WHEN AND WHY IT OCCURS

Abstract

Conformity is one of the most spread forms of social influence. It occurs when people change their thoughts and behavior due to succumbing on real or imagined pressure of others or due to observing to certain social or group norms. The most important approaches in definition and investigation of conformity are presented in this article. Two types of motivational antecedents are identified when are considering the reasons for conformity: the need to be correct and the need to be accepted. The nature of conformity is largely determined by these needs which result in qualitatively different types of social influence: informational and normative influence. It was also specified that the probability of manifestation of conformity depends on various situational and individual factors.