| Chapter 1: | Social Conformity: The Collective Dimension |
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Instead of saying that they voted for a presidential candidate because they thought that candidate most likely to win, they may report attitudes about the candidate or political issues that are reasonable explanations for their behavior—attitudes that are themselves in conformity with what society would expect someone to say in an opinion poll.8 These explanations are consciously made-up reconstructions of what actually happened in a nonconscious decision they are unaware of. Much current voting research relies on opinion polls, but psychological research tells us to be cautious about taking such information at face value.
Why do humans have both conscious and nonconscious cognitive systems in their brain? Psychologists suggest that the nonconscious system evolved first. It uses multiple information processing systems and is good at detecting patterns; it is well suited to making decisions that require speed. The conscious mind is better at deliberation and is more flexible in how it processes information. Timothy Wilson, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia, likens the conscious mind to the role of an American president.9 The president is essential to keeping the government running and making major decisions, but he cannot know everything going on in the lower bureaucracies, which may sometimes be pursuing policies at odds with the president’s own.
Social conformity has a complex relation with nonconscious cognition. Norms are standards for behavior, and conformity is a normal human response to social norms. Sometimes people may conform to norms for fear of punishment or social ostracism if they go against society. At other times, however, people voluntarily go along with a norm because they have been socialized to accept its legitimacy or normalcy; it has become something they value. It may be a rule they learned from their parents or in Sunday school. They might feel good about themselves when they do the right thing, or the decision might be so automatic that they do not even think about it. People generally accept the idea that society works better when most people follow the rules.
Although people may at times obey a social norm with full consciousness of the alternatives, some aspects of social conformity originate nonconsciously.