Students often use social conformity as a means of survival in university — while understandable, this behaviour may have long-term developmental consequences. Forest Romm and Kevin Waldman, psychological researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, asked undergraduates (over 1,452 confidential interviewees): "Have you ever pretended to hold more progressive views than you truly endorse to succeed socially or academically?"Those who said yes, according to Romm and Waldman, were "an astounding 88%." Their overall research question was: “What happens to identity formation when belief is replaced by adherence to orthodoxy?”.WATCH: How Alberta teachers' strike may sway school board trustee election.The results were stark — although most students didn't hold the beliefs they proclaimed in public, they knew expressing otherwise would pose an extremely high social risk. Romm and Waldman add, as a consequence, "When belief is prescriptive, and ideological divergence is treated as social risk, the integrative process stalls.""Rather than forging a durable sense of self through trial, error, and reflection, students learn to compartmentalize.""Publicly, they conform; privately, they question — often in isolation. This split between outer presentation and inner conviction not only fragments identity but arrests its development.".WATCH: The EU's climate narrative — As scary as it sounds?.But this isn't the end of the list of consequences.If young adults are never met with an opportunity to develop their own sense of self, Romm and Waldman say, "it reshapes a sense of identity at a developmental stage where authenticity and autonomy are supposed to be consolidating.""And it matters because if students learn to avoid conflict or to gain approval, they end up with what we call identity foreclosure.""That's adopting identities which are handed to them rather than ones that they're genuinely testing themselves, which creates fragility in adulthood, making one's identity feel conditional upon approval rather than being rooted in actual internal conviction.".WATCH: Meteorologist says airport temperatures are inaccurate .This creates inauthenticity that bleeds into young adults' interpersonal relationships: "this conformity fosters really shallow connections.""Friendships and professional relationships built on this sort of appeasement rather than honesty really lack true intimacy," add Romm and Waldman.What are some of the things students conform to in public but secretly disagree with, you may ask?Of interviewees, 77% said they disagreed with "the idea that gender identity should override biological sex in such domains as sports, healthcare, or public data — but would never voice that disagreement aloud. ".The long-term effects of self-censoring include a neurobiological response.As Waldman and Romm point out, "conformity doesn't just change behavior, it actually rewires the brain to prioritize external validation over self-regulation and that's something that does have long-term mental health risks.""Sustained conformity can lead to anxiety, depression, and burnout."Waldman and Romm's comment on universities' attempts at "moral unity" in which "higher education has mistaken consensus for growth and compliance for care.".As per their article in The Hill article, authenticity is seen by many young adults as a liability to their reputation.If you'd like to hear more about social conformity in young adults, check out the clip below.
