Sometimes we don’t need anyone to tell us what to do: just looking around us is enough to unwittingly begin to copy what others are doing. We laugh when everyone else laughs, we remain silent when everyone else remains silent, and we nod even when something inside wants to scream no.
Why do we do it? Out of simple conformism.
Conformity is a collective tendency that helps us fit in. Being part of a group makes us feel validated and protected. However, following others also has its “side effects,” especially when we don’t just go with the flow, but let it decide for us.
In an age marked by information overload, social media, and mass opinions, thinking for yourself isn’t just a virtue, it’s a necessity. Being swayed by what the majority does or says can be comfortable, but it often distances us from what we truly believe, want, or value. Questioning, analyzing, and deciding for ourselves has become a daily act of resistance to uniform thinking.
Fortunately, there is a personality trait that protects us from blindly following the crowd.
When social influence overrides individuality
In the 1950s, Solomon Asch conducted a very interesting experiment in which he wanted to test how far people would adhere to group consensus, even when it was obviously incorrect.
In the experiment, participants were given two cards: one with a single vertical line and another with three lines of different lengths. The task was to identify which of the three lines matched the length of the single line on the other card.
The trick was that the entire group agreed to give an incorrect answer, putting the participant in the dilemma of agreeing with the others or trusting their perception and judgment, going against the majority opinion.
Asch conducted the experiment with multiple variations, but in all cases found that approximately 75% of participants accepted the majority’s incorrect answer at least once.
The key to not settling: opening yourself up to experiences and your inner world
Over the years, this classic experiment has been replicated in various ways. In 2023, psychologists at the Universities of Bern and Lund extended it to political opinions and even gave financial rewards for correct answers to assess whether a reward reduced social conformity.
They found that only about 33% of people disagreed with the group’s opinion. After conducting tests to measure intelligence, self-esteem, and personality traits, they found that people who followed their opinion shared one characteristic: openness to experience.
Openness to experience is a complex trait that involves an active imagination, a certain aesthetic sensitivity, attention to one’s own feelings, a search for variety, and intellectual curiosity. In other words, these are people who don’t just want new experiences, but are also deeply committed to inner exploration and self-understanding.
Researchers explain that people who are more open to experience are also less likely to be swayed by the group and more resistant to conformity because they exhibit:
- Greater tolerance for ambiguity. People who are open to new experiences tend to feel more comfortable with divergent perspectives, which makes them less likely to give in to peer pressure just to fit in. They are relatively comfortable with uncertainty and searching, so they don’t feel the need to embrace answers that don’t convince them.
- Independent thinking. People who are open to new experiences also tend to value originality and unconventional thinking. They love exploring new ideas and often question social norms and expectations, making them less likely to conform to a conventional wisdom. Basically, their intellectual curiosity acts as a kind of protective shield against conformity.
- Lower need for social approval. Openness to new experiences is inversely related to the desire for approval. In other words, more open people tend to be more emotionally and cognitively autonomous, which reduces their need to align themselves with the majority just to feel validated and accepted.
In short, greater openness to experience acts as a protection against emotional and intellectual conformity because it encourages exploration, independent thinking, and a willingness to tolerate difference and uncertainty. While it doesn’t make us completely immune to social pressure, it helps us resist it a little better.
References:
Franzen, A. & Mader, S. (2023) The power of social influence: A replication and extension of the Asch experiment. PLoS One ; 18(11): e0294325.
Asch, S. (1951) Effects of group pressure on the modification and distortion of judgments. Groups, Leadership and Men: Research in Human Relations. Carnegie Press: 177–190.
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