Submitting to Majority:

The Human Insecurity

A man once approached me and said I am but one voice in a crowd;
I replied to him Than you are one step ahead of the rest

Everybody wants to fit in. In a classist society if you are not one of the
elites, you are no one. From social clubs at school to church groups every
Sunday, people often find themselves striving to become accepted by their peers
and recognized as one of them. It is the ancient concept of peer-pressure, the
social pressure an individual feels to adapt to a groups ideal. The concept is
based in the overwhelming insecurities of humanity; no one can feel confident in
his or her own ideas unless those ideas are shared with someone else. Most
groups come with a set standard of thinking, the ideas that are believed to be
held by all individuals in the group. It is not that uncommon that this standard is
not true for many members in the group, but they will comply to the majority out
of fear that they are the only ones who think differently. This is not to say that all
people will conform to majority, there are several variables that would influence
the likelihood of group conformity, such as group size, number of dissenters, the
attractiveness of the group, and various personal characteristics. Experiments
by individuals such as Solomon Asch illustrate, quite accurately, that people tend
to go with the majority rather than dare venture on their own (SAC). People tend
to conform to the implicit and explicit norms of a group, succumbing to the all
mighty majority.
In some cases the mere size or nature of the group will cause a tendency

to conform. People find strength in numbers, and would rather be among them
than against them. Therefore the group can have strong influences over the
individual in this way. These influences can either be normative, meaning the
members want to be liked, or informative, when the members want to be right.
When an individual is afraid of not being liked based on his answer, larger groups
lead to more conformity, naturally, because there would be more people who
would potentially not like you (Clarke 85). When an individual is afraid of being
wrong, the very first person added to the group has the most influence, with ever
member added afterwards having less influence than the one before (Clarke 86).
This is due to the idea of seniority. The person who has been around the longest
should obviously, in the individuals mind, know what is going on. No one looks
to the new guy for sage-like advice.
The attractiveness of a group can also play a strong role. Groups with a
difficult entry process or specialized groups that focus on something with which
the individual identifies with both hold high rates of conformity (Conformity). In
an honors club or other scholastic excellence club, those within tend to hold their
membership in high regards and fear losing their status within the groups.
Human insecurity creates a doubt that ones personal skill does not match that of
their peers, so in an effort to preserve their status within the group, they will
conform. In a group with which the individual identifies with, such as a football
team or 4H club, conformity is a result of a lack of self-identity. The individual
believes that since other members in the group (who all hold personal similarities
to the individual) act this way, than that must be the way that he is supposed to

act as well.
As stated before, people find strength in numbers, and this can sometimes
work in someones favor. The presence of even one person who will agree with
the individual drastically reduce the likelihood of conformity (Southerly). No one
wants to brake the ice by going against the grain, but once that line has been
crossed, it becomes easier for people to follow. The problem, however, is to get
that one individual to speak up when everyone in the group is waiting for
someone else to do it. It is not that often that someone will.
This is not to say that everyone is prone to conformity. There are several
personal factors that influence someone likelihood to conform. For example,
Females are more likely to conform than males, men tend to be more stubborn;
teenagers are more likely to conform than those older than them, due to lack of
self-identity and self-esteem associated with maturing; People who are
cognitively complex, low self-monitors, assertive, and high in the desire to control
the events in their lives are less likely to conform than their counterparts (Clarke
80-85). Every individual is different, and not everyone is as susceptible, but no
one is free from it.
It is a problem that has been around for a long time. It has been labeled
the fuel behind the tobacco industry. It can be said that it leads to sex at a young
age and the overabundance of teen pregnancy. It has been used as the
reasoning behind violence and crime. It has been said to control the sales and
use of narcotics. But not too many people have realized that it controls their
everyday lives. In school, at work, at home, on the road, at the bar, in the park,

at the bowling alley, and out at the movies, the majority is always there. There is
no escape from peer-pressure. Everyone sees actions as more appropriate
when others are doing it. This is why social proof (e.g., claiming a product is
popular) is such an effective influential tactic. It is the nature of humanity to see
something (I see a bird), proclaim it as fact (That is a bird), and reflect it upon
themselves (How can I be like a bird?). Society breeds copycats, legions of
people who try to be like everyone else. The world is full of monkeys, and like
they say: monkey see, monkey do.

WORKS CITED
Clarke, Alder. Peer-Pressure Today. March-Group Publishing.
New York:1995.(80-86)
Conformity. Online. http://www.barquentine.freeserve.co.uk/text/psycho7.htm.
Date Accessed: April 30, 2001.

Southerly, Bill. Conformity. Online.

http://www.fsu.umd.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/prism/bill.htm. Date
Accessed: April 30, 2001.
Solomon Asch Center. Solomon Asch. Online.
http://www.psych.upenn.edu/sacsec/about/solomon.htm. Date Accessed:
April 30, 2001.