The Powerful Force of Conformity
“It’s easy to stand with the crowd. It takes courage to stand alone.” – Mahatma Gandhi
We have a deep longing to fit in with the group, and for good reason. In the event of isolation, life can become quite difficult. Our evolutionary path as a group species has ensured the incorporation of deep biological mechanisms for conformity. However, we do possess the ability to override these ingrained tendencies, the ability for non-conformity.
Since conformity has been sketched into the collective human psyche, non-conformity often requires great conscious effort and willpower. Not only are our brains designed to penalize us if we go against the group, through negative emotion, but groups themselves are designed to punish non-conformers. Just looking at the cartoonish image at the beginning of this article probably gives us a feeling of discomfort. That’s how powerful the force of conformity is in the mind.
Since going against the group has emotional and social consequences, most people conform to the crowd the majority of the time. This can be the right choice in some scenarios. However, there can be serious dangers to this tendency. If a group that you are conforming to begins to degenerate, or you you are in an unfortunate section of the group, you can be lead to destruction.
In this article, we will embark on a psychological exploration of why the force of conformity is so powerful. Then, we will understand why it can be so important to go against the group, and what it takes to do so.
The Asch Conformity Experiments: A Study on Group Conformity
One of the most famous studies on group conformity were the Asch Conformity Experiments conducted in the 1950s. Asch conducted a series of experiments to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could make a person conform.
In the experiments, participants were asked to match the length of a line to three comparison lines in the presence of a group of confederates who deliberately chose the wrong line. A significant proportion of participants conformed to the majority view, even when it was clearly incorrect, directly showing the power of conformity in group settings.
This study contains a very important lesson. The pull to conformity is so powerful that people will go against what they see with their own eyes in favor of the group.
The Five Monkeys Experiment: A Famous Conformity Thought Experiment
Another famous conformity experiment is the Five Monkeys Experiment. The exact details and validity of this experiment are somewhat ambiguous, however, it still serves as a great parable for the lasting effects and irrationality of group conformity.
Five monkeys are placed in a cage with a ladder in the center. At the top of the ladder, bananas are hung. Whenever a monkey climbs the ladder to get the bananas, cold water is sprayed on all the monkeys, discouraging them from climbing the ladder. Over time, the monkeys learn to avoid climbing the ladder to avoid the unpleasant spray. Here’s where it gets even more interesting. New monkeys introduced to the group are also prevented from climbing the ladder by the other monkeys, even without the cold water being used. Eventually, all the original monkeys are replaced, yet the group continues to enforce the behavior of not climbing the ladder, even though none of the current monkeys have experienced the cold water themselves.
The lesson from this thought experiment is that groups will conform to rules that are outdated and no longer make sense. Humans actually engage in this behavior quite frequently. We carry around with us rules and associations based on behaviors that have lead to reward or punishment in the past. Sometimes, these memories become completely outdated. This is why older companies get stuck engaging in old business practices that no longer work. The leadership and employees have an outdated set of mental associations and a rule set that the group still foolishly enforces.
Madness of the Crowds: Conformity Gone Wrong
“Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Like any living thing or system, groups have the propensity to become diseased. This can happen to any group whether it be a family, community, state, country, or religion. Once a group begins to degenerate, it brings down the individuals that are a part of it.
Many governments throughout human history have become ideologically diseased, leading to the deaths of millions of people. Sometimes, all it takes is one tyrannical leader to turn the entire group into something terrible. Mao and Stalin are both examples of leaders that infected their groups with ideologies that lead to the deaths of millions of people.
It is difficult to realize when you are part of a diseased group because of the powerful pull to conformity. As the Asch Conformity Experiments showed, people have a tendency to follow the group even if the group goes against reality. One of the most horrific examples of this conformity effect was the holocaust. In Nazi Germany, large contingents of the population went along with the groups ruthless persecution of the Jewish population. They didn’t see this as diseased behavior because they were just going along with the group.
Collective Disease: Dangers of Group Conformity
“When everyone is sick, we no longer consider it a disease.” – Naval Ravikant
The modern world provides many examples of unhealthy behaviors that have become normalized. When the majority of a group is engaging in behaviors that are detrimental, individuals lose the ability to recognize them as such.
Obesity: Normalization of Excess Fat
In the modern western world, obesity rates have risen so dramatically that being overweight is now more common than being within a healthy weight range. Even though obesity is linked to numerous health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, its normalization in society has led to a reduction in its perception as a health crisis. Even fat models have been implemented as an attempt to further normalize obesity.
Screen Time: Normalization of Digital Consumption
The average person spends several hours a day on screens, often consuming content passively. This behavior has been linked to poor mental health, reduced attention spans, and disrupted sleep patterns. However, because screen time is a universal habit, it is generally accepted as a standard part of life rather than a harmful behavior that needs correction.
Sleep Deprivation: Societal Lack of Sleep
Sleep deprivation is a common issue in modern societies, with many people getting far less than the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night. While inadequate sleep is linked to decreased cognitive performance, weakened immune function, and increased risk of chronic illnesses, it’s often glamorized as a marker of hard work or productivity rather than recognized as a health crisis.
Overconsumption of Processed Foods: Diseased Food Environment
Diets high in processed foods, sugar, and unhealthy fats have become the norm in many parts of the world. The normalization of fast food and processed snacks has contributed to rising rates of metabolic diseases, yet these eating habits are rarely viewed as a “disease” because they are so widespread.
Group Think: Ridiculous Ideas Widely Held
“The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.” – Bertrand Russell
History and modern society provide numerous examples of widely held but flawed or absurd opinions.
Geocentrism: Earth as the Center
For centuries, it was widely believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and that all celestial bodies orbited it. This view, upheld by the Catholic Church and most of society, was later proven false by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler, revealing the absurdity of this long-held belief.
Widespread Smoking: Cigarettes for Everyone
In the mid-20th century, smoking was not only common but also advertised as a healthy activity. Doctors were even used in advertisements to endorse cigarette brands. Today, smoking is recognized as a leading cause of cancer and other chronic diseases, highlighting the absurdity of its previous endorsement.
The Humors Theory of Medicine: Silly Medicine
For centuries, Western medicine was based on the idea that human health was governed by four bodily humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Treatments like bloodletting and purging were derived from this theory. Modern medicine has since demonstrated the absurdity and ineffectiveness of these practices.
These once widely accepted yet absurd beliefs underscore how easily groups can endorse ideas that have no basis in truth.
Breaking Free: The Art of Non-Conformity
“Do not follow the crowd. Follow your own path.” – Buddha
The ability to go against the group is an ability that must be built. Non-conformity is not easy. It requires immense mental and physical effort to carve your own path. The following section will lay out the path to non-conformity.
Escaping the Forces of Conformity: Paving Your Own Way
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
In order to pave your own way, you must first break free from the forces that are pushing you to conform. These forces are powerful and active all around us.
Culture: A Shared Framework
The culture that we grow up in has a tremendous impact on our belief systems and behaviors. As we grow up, our parents put great pressure on us to behave and act in certain ways, often aligned with the culture of the society that we grow up in. This includes the language that we learn, the traditions and rituals passed down to us, and the rules and expectations governing our behavior.
Cultural information is also instilled into us by sources other than family. The schools, the media, the entertainment industry, the government, and the different industries that make up society all have their own ways of broadcasting cultural information. Due to the wide proliferation of digital technology, all individuals are being broadcast to by these different entities all throughout the day.
Religion and Ideology: Spiritual Forces
Religion and ideology are two major forces that have immense power over the tendency of individuals to conform. These forces tend to push strict conformity to a set of ideas and beliefs regarding morality and the spiritual aspects of life. Religious communities and ideological groups often become hostile towards individuals that do not subscribe to their belief systems. Most people are brought into specific religions or ideologies by their parents, but these forces also spread through other areas of society like the education system.
With all of these forces attempting to lock individuals into predetermined templates, it can be very difficult for any one person to break free and go against them. However, it is possible. Many of the greatest individuals in human history broke free from the powerful forces of their age and introduced novel ideas and belief systems.
Strength of Will: The Fuel for Non-Conformity
“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” – Franz Kafka
Since external group forces are so powerful, an individual must apply a very powerful internal force to break free from them. That powerful internal force is will. Will is “the ability to control your thoughts and actions in order to achieve what you want to do” [1]. Will is an abstract but very real force.
“There is a driving force more powerful than steam, electricity and nuclear power: the will.” – Albert Einstein
Will is something that can be strengthened within us. Higher level parts of the brain are associated with the will because they are involved in executive decision making, planning, and self control. Like many brain regions, these higher level parts of the brain can be strengthened. Many individuals with a strong will were not born with it but built it up over time by resisting the forces that we discussed earlier.
Will can be considered the main driver of non-conformity. If someone has a strong enough will, they can go against societal forces and the group. They can consciously overcome the negative emotion and various punishments that come with non-conformity.
Agreeableness: A Big 5 Personality Trait
In the field of psychology, agreeableness is one of the five major dimensions of personality, known as the Big Five personality traits. These five traits are a widely accepted framework for understanding personality.
Each individual can be placed along a spectrum of agreeableness, ranging from low in agreeableness to high in agreeableness. Individuals that are low in agreeableness are more likely to go against the group. There appear to be various biological mechanism involved in agreeableness. One of them being testosterone (the male sex hormone). Studies such as “Testosterone and Dominance in Men” by James M. Dabbs and Marian F. Hargrove (1997) correlate the sex hormone testosterone with disagreeableness [2].
It makes great biological sense why higher testosterone levels would make an individuals less agreeable. Higher testosterone levels promoted behaviors like assertiveness, competitiveness, and risk-taking, which are advantageous for acquiring resources, attracting mates, and establishing dominance within a group. These behaviors often require a high degree of disagreeableness.
We see the effects of testosterone very clearly in young men. As their testosterone levels increase during puberty, they tend to become more rebellious. They test the boundaries of what the group has deemed as acceptable behavior.
Maintaining healthy levels of testosterone is one action you can take to become less agreeable and more capable of going against the group.
Creating Your Own Value System: Filling the Void
“Man is the creator of his own values. Let us not then believe in any morality which is based solely on an authority of some kind or another.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
In the modern Western world, many of the systems that used to provide us with solid values are breaking down and losing their power. As this process continues, individuals are finding themselves devoid of solid ideas and beliefs. This void is something that must be filled.
It is up to each individual to fill this void consciously to ensure that it doesn’t get filled with detrimental ideas and beliefs. Curating your own mental framework is a very effective way to go against the group. Almost all great individuals throughout history were steadfast in their self-imposed principles and beliefs. This gave them the courage to go against the crowd when they needed to most.
This does not mean that you have to come up with all of your own belief systems from scratch. There is an immense amount of information on the internet regarding all of the great religions, philosophies, and various belief systems that have existed throughout human history. Each individual, through rigorous study, can pull the best ideas from all of these different systems and develop their own mental framework.
Continuous Reflection: Maintaining Your Value System
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain
Once you have a strong value system in place, you must take consistent action to maintain it. Continuous reflection is the best way to do this. Through continuous reflection, you analyze your behaviors and the belief systems that drive that behavior.
Analyzing Your Beliefs
Andrew Tate, a highly influential figure and clear non-conformist, speaks about the importance of reflecting on your ideas and beliefs:
“You need to analyze your beliefs. Why do you believe what you believe? Is it because you genuinely think it’s true, or because it’s what you’ve been told?”
“Most people believe what they’re told to believe. They don’t think for themselves because they’re conditioned by the media and society.”
The reality of the world is that the group does not always instill ideas and beliefs that benefit all individuals. For example, all throughout history, oppressed individuals like slaves have been fed ideas and beliefs that ensure their continued slavery. Human societies have always had a tendency to be structured so that the lower class of society is fed ideas that keep them in the lower class. This is one of the mechanisms through which the people in power maintain their power.
By engaging in continuous reflection, you can identify the ideas and beliefs that you hold, as well as where they came from. If you are a lower class citizen and your beliefs came from the government or the media, you may want to reconsider those. Regardless of where you fall society, it’s extremely important to continuously reflect in order to maintain a strong value system that allows you to go against the group when you need to.
The Dangers: Costs of Non-Conformity
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
It can can be dangerous to go against the group. At the very least, you risk being shunned by your community. At the very most, you may face severe punishment, even death.
Socrates: The Price of Non-Conformity
One of the best examples of an individual that paid the ultimate price for going against the group was the greek philosopher Socrates. He was a prolific thinker that is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He was perhaps one of the best human beings ever at the art of continuous reflection. His method for evaluating the validity of ideas has since been named the Socratic method. This method got him into trouble.
He was charged with “corrupting the youth” and “not recognizing the Gods”. He was tried and eventually found guilty. His punishment was to end his life by drinking poison. His story serves as a prime example of what it sometimes costs to go against the group. Regardless of his dire sentence, he stayed courageous until the end, not stating any regrets.
Whistleblowers: The Risk of Exposing the Group
“Whistleblower” situations serve as great examples of the dangers of going against the group. Edward Snowden is a great modern day example of a whistleblower that went against the group and paid a great price for it.
Snowden was working for the intelligence community in the United States. He became very concerned with their behavior in regards to them spying on the American population. This concern lead him to leak classified documents detailing large-scale surveillance programs being conducted by the United States government.
Snowden was charged with treason and was forced to flee the country. He will most likely never be able to return to the United States and will have to live in a form of hiding for the rest of his life. However, many citizens consider him a hero as he exposed widespread overreach within the United States government.
The Rewards: Benefits of Non-Conformity
“The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find themselves in places no one has ever been before.” – Albert Einstein
Going against the crowd can be immensely rewarding, especially if the crowd is heading in the wrong direction. In the most extreme examples, going against the group can literally save your life. We see this with people that have escaped dangerous groups like death cults or countries where wars and genocides have broken out. Keeping an eye on where your group is heading and distancing yourself if their behavior gets crazy can be very beneficial to your individual safety.
Another place where non-conformist actions can be very beneficial are in economic markets. The nature of markets is that you get paid for differentiating yourself in beneficial ways. Think of Steve Jobs and the formation of Apple. He, along with the other founders of Apple created a piece of technology that completely transformed the world. They didn’t achieve this massive success by following the status quo or the majority of the group. They went off in a completely different direction to create novel products that they believed would be beneficial to society, and they profited greatly from doing so.
Fame and power are two more benefits that come from going against the group in ways that society appreciates. Many of the greatest musicians, actors, and athletes of all time did things differently than the rest of the group. They created novel techniques, trends, and personal brands that broke the status quo. They took big risks and it paid off.
Conclusion
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Making the decision to go against the group is difficult. It takes great courage, willpower, and confidence to rebel against the forces around you. History is filled with examples of individuals who paid great costs for going against group norms. However, going against the group can also be one of the most beneficial things that you ever do.
By creating your own value system, and strengthening your will to stand alone when necessary, you can navigate the societal pressures of conformity while staying true to your principles. I created this article as a reminder of the importance of resisting group conformity and as a mental framework for helping you resist the powerful forces of the group.
If you found this article valuable, you will likely find these two additional articles on other forces that humanity grapples with equally compelling:
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