When people change the way they are in order to fit into a group that is known as conformity. Conformity according to Myers (2013) is when there is “change in behavior or belief as the result of real or imagined group pressure” (p. 188). The three widely used form of conformity are compliance, obedience and acceptance. When someone complies with something is means they do what is expected even if they do not agree with it. People often just do what they are told by being obedient. When someone accepts conformity they not only follow what is expected but they agree with what is expected. Conformity can be used as a positive tool such as waiting your turn in line and not cutting it, and following rules that protect others. But sometimes the use of conformity can be detrimental when used in a negative way.
One of the most profound situation that conformity was used was the incident at Jonestown. Conformity was used to persuade over 900 people to commit suicide in the Jonestown Massacre under the direction of James Jones in 1978. Jones convinced his people that it was what needed to be done in order to save his church as Haney (2007) described Jones’ thought process as, “the People's Temple would preserve their church by making the ultimate sacrifice: their own lives” (The visit of Congressman Ryan, para. 2). Jones was able to even convince parents to kill their own children in the name of the church. This conformity has had such an impact on society, as Dittmann (2003) noted that “through 25 years of research and interviews with Jonestown survivors, [Philip G.] Zimbardo [PhD] has found parallels between the mind control techniques used by Jones at Jonestown--namely sophisticated types of compliance, conformity and obedience training” (para. 6). Jones used these tools of conformity in order to convince his people to take their lives by drinking the poisoned Kool-Aid in order to save the church and return to god.
References
Dittmann, M. (2003). Lessons from Jonestown. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor
/nov03/jonestown.aspx
Haney, E. (2007).
Ministry of terror. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com
/spot/jonestown1.html
Myers, D.
(2013). Social Psychology (11th ed.). New York:
McGraw Hill.
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