Lecture Notes in Education
Psychology and Public Media

An Examination of Individual Differences in Conformity

Author

Jingtian Guo * 1

1 Santa Margarita Catholic High School

Corresponding Author

Jingtian Guo

Keywords

age, sex, personality, individual conformity, culture, COVID-19

Abstract

The current work aimed to examine how individual differences affect rates of conformity and further reflects upon how this may relate to coronavirus safety behaviors today. This is a theoretical paper that covers literature from both meta-analyses and experimental work, reviewing the principles and processes underlying an individual's likelihood to conform under different internal and external factors. Specifically, this work will address individual differences on the basis of age, sex, personality, and culture, and will then integrate how these traits may be at play when conforming (or not) to the COVID-19 safety procedures (i.e. wearing a mask, social distancing, and washing hands). The paper concludes that rates of conformity among individuals tend to decrease with increasing age, females tend to show a higher level of conformity, people with a personality marked by high stability conform more than people with greater plasticity in their personality, and collectivist cultures result in a higher level of conformity than individualist cultures.

Citation

Jingtian Guo. An Examination of Individual Differences in Conformity. LNEP (2021) LNEP ICEIPI 2021: 163-169. DOI: 10.54254/lnep.iceipi.2021192.

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