Conformity and compliance

Conformity is a kind of social influence involving a change in beliefs or behavior in order to fit in with a group. This kind of influence has many different facets with both positive and negative consequences:

Normative conformity is a type of conformity that occurs because people wish to be liked and accepted. Typical examples of it would be the peer pressure in a sports team, but also fashion trends, following Christmas traditions or standing ovations in a theater.

Normative conformity can have negative effects in the form of peer pressure. In sport setting, using of illegal performance enhancing drugs can me a manifestation of conformity. Even those people who do not want to take the drugs may still conform and start taking. They are afraid to speak up or refuse because no one else is.

Normative conformity often also involves compliance which is externally imposed acceptance of influence. Compliance appears when someone publicly accepts the views of a group but privately rejects them. This process is often regulated by rewards and punishments. Internally, athletes may disagree with the order given by coach and feel uncomfortable about it but their public behavior adjusts to the order nonetheless. This usually happens when people believe s/he has few or no alternatives in group choice. For example, it is quite common that there is no opportunity to work with a different coach and therefore the athlete feels obliged to comply with the current one.

Informational conformity appears because people like to be correct. In a group they can check the accuracy of their thoughts and ideas. Therefore informational conformity happens because we believe that other group members give us information that we did not previously have. For instance, someone may start using specific training equipment suggested by others because she believes that everyone else has better knowledge about this kind of equipment.

Compliance is more likely among low status team members, whereas conformity is more likely among high status group members. Highly cohesive groups not only can create more conformity, but, should the individual wish to belong no matter what, can be more coercive as well. Importantly, compliance is a much more costly mechanism than conformity

In summary, for the coach it is important to use the positive aspects of conformity to get team members to work productively and to help each other. However, it is also important to be aware of potential negative appearances of conformity when obedience becomes dysfunctional and harmful to both individual and team goals. Consider that compliance is more likely among low status team members, whereas conformity is more likely among high status group members. In addition, highly cohesive teams create more conformity. Importantly, compliance is a much more costly mechanism to use than conformity.