Social Conformity

Meaning :

Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to what individuals perceive is the norm of their society or social group. This influence occurs in small groups and society as a whole, and may result from subtle unconscious influences, or direct and overt social pressure. Conformity can occur in the presence of others, or when an individual is alone. For example, people tend to follow social norms when eating or watching television, even when alone.

Definition :
People often conform from a desire for security within a group—typically a group of a similar age, culture, religion, or educational status. Unwillingness to conform carries the risk of social rejection. In this respect, conformity can be a means of avoiding bullying or deflecting criticism from peers, though it can also reflect suppression of personality. Conformity is often associated with adolescence and youth culture, but strongly affects humans of all ages.

Although peer pressure may manifest negatively, conformity can have good or bad effects depending on the situation. Driving on the correct side of the road is a beneficial conformity. Conformity influences formation and maintenance of social norms, and helps societies function smoothly and predictably via the self-elimination of behaviors seen as contrary to unwritten rules. In this sense it can be a positive force that prevents acts that are disruptive or dangerous.
However, the societal urge to conform and spread conformity generally does not discern between traits that are harmful, and those that merely disrupt a group sense of what is 'normal' or 'predictable' behavior. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

Types of Conformity

1.                  Compliance is public conformity, while possibly keeping one's own private beliefs.

2.                  Identification is conforming to someone who is liked and respected, such as a celebrity or a favorite uncle.

3.                  Internalization is accepting the belief or behavior and conforming both publicly and privately.

Compliance

 In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. Regulatory compliance describes the goal that corporations or public agencies aspire to in their efforts to ensure that personnel are aware of and take steps to comply with relevant laws and regulations. Due to the increasing number of regulations and need for operational transparency, organizations are increasingly adopting the use of consolidated and harmonized sets of compliance controls. ‘This approach is used to ensure that all necessary governance requirements can be met without the unnecessary duplication of effort and activity from resources.

Identification

Identification is a psychological process whereby the subject assimilates an aspect, property, or attribute of the other and is transformed, wholly or partially, after the model the other provides. It is by means of a series of identifications that the personality is constituted and specified. The roots of the concept can be found in Freud's writings. The three most prominent concepts of identification as described by Freud are: primary identification, narcissistic (secondary) identification and partial (secondary) identification.

While 'in the psychoanalytic literature there is agreement that the core meaning of identification is simple - to be like or to become like another', it has also been adjudged '"the most perplexing clinical/theoretical area" in psychoanalysis'.

Internalization
Internalization has different definitions depending on the field that the term is used in. Internalization is the opposite of externalization.
Generally, internalization is the long-term process of consolidating and embedding one’s own beliefs, attitudes, and values, when it comes to moral behavior. The accomplishment of this may involve the deliberate use of psychoanalytical or behavioral methods.
When changing moral behavior, one is said to be "internalized" when a new set of beliefs, attitudes, and values replaces or habituates the desired behavior. For example, such internalization might take place following religious conversion.
Internalization is also often associated with learning (for example, learning ideas or skills) and making use of it from then on. The notion of internalization therefore also finds currency in applications in education, learning, and training, and in business and management thinking.