Mental health.
Self-Esteem And Valuing Your Uniqueness.
Low self-esteem is a problem for conformists.
People who don’t conform have higher self-esteem, are more productive and are less likely to suffer from burnout.
Conformity places greater pressure on a person’s individuality which leads to burnout and adverse mental health.
“ … non-conformity might be considered a predictor of feelings of greater well-being and less burnout in the educational sector.” — Dr Bas Kodden.
Non-conformity inspires visions of hippies and punks, the types of people who fought against the system.
However, many non-conformists wear suits and stand before judges as lawyers, community leaders, companies, and individuals fighting against the system within the system.
When people feel similar to a group they feel more connected. Conformity helps children to develop social skills and identity within a social group. For adults, conformity supports self-awareness and building relationships.
Nonetheless, conformity can restrict growth and breed discontent when compliance over personal choice stifles innovation and creates discord.
Research shows that people who score high in self-esteem demonstrate lower scores in conformity. Also, those who score low in self-esteem are more likely to conform or comply with social norms and group mentality to fit in within that group.
“ … participants with low levels of self-esteem tended to conform to their co-witness more often than those with high self-esteem scores.” — Tomoka Tainaka.
People with politically conservative values, higher conscientiousness, increased neuroticism, and low self-esteem are more likely to change their opinions according to social pressure.
Age, gender, and subject influence conformity and self-esteem. Younger and older people tend to conform to social pressure and are more influenced by others than people in their 40s and 50s.
When people are more familiar with a subject they are less likely to change their personal stance according to the majority, while less familiarity with a subject makes a person have more trust in the majority.
“ … for the judgement of others to have influence value, it is required that the subject perceives these others as being more accurate than himself.” — Leon A. Rosenberg.
Men tend to value their uniqueness and are less prone to social pressure and social media influence than women. Also, conformity to specific masculine norms can negatively affect men’s mental health, their tendency to seek professional help, and general social functioning.
Excess time on social media and conforming to liking posts with the most attention each signal low self-esteem and are both more common in women than men.
Non-conformity can be such a positive thing that some researchers consider it a potential intervention for issues internalizing societal attractiveness standards and subsequent negative body image and disordered eating.
Working on your self-esteem could be as simple as checking out what social norms you're trying to fit into and whether or not they’re in line with who you really are.
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