Once in a while, you may find yourself in a situation where you need to get an entire group to conform to a single thought or rule.
Web Watch admits that getting a group of any size to conform to the group’s wishes on the whole is a lot like herding cats – there’s always going to be someone who wants to march to their own beat and do whatever they want, just because they can – regardless of whether that marching is going to help the group in whole or hinder whatever progress you’re trying to make.
Web Watch has found these TEN TIMELESS INFLUENCERS OF CONFORMITY. Each of these ten items affects group-think, and are the things that any group leader (or group dissenter, if that’s the way you’re marching) should take into consideration if you’re trying to win friends and influence people. Some of those items are:
- Group Size: The larger the group, the harder it is to get them to conform.
- Dissent: Just one person disagreeing with authority within the group is enough to have others question their own decision to follow the leader.
- Moods: People in a good mood are more likely to conform than not. This may be why food is a great equalizer in winning over dissenting opinions.
- Social approval: Conforming to a group decision makes people feel better by contributing to the whole. Dissenters often don’t care about what others think, and don’t look for social approval as a driving factor for themselves.
- Authority: Is the group being led by someone with an authoritarian presence or otherwise a commanding control of the situation?
- Social norms: What do we believe others’ perception of us will be if we choose to go one way or another? There is very little litter at Walt Disney World because guests see other guests throwing away their trash correctly. Nobody wants to be “that guy” who thows a gum wrapper on the ground on Main Street instead of walking two feet to the trash can.