Group conformity, opinion leaders and peer pressure

A group defined is 'any number of entities (members) considered as a unit', something that shares a set of norms, have role relationships and experience interdependent behaviors. Groups influence the socialisation process which is what we learn and how we behave. Maslow (1954) developed his hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy of needs is shown below:


The sections at the bottom of the pyramid are basic needs for humans and as you work up the pyramid the need increases.

Physiological Needs
Physiological needs are basic things that humans require for survival. These include food, breathing and homeostasis.

Safety Needs
Safety needs are needs which humans require to be secure in society. These include a secure job, financial security, personal security, health and bell being and safety against accidence and illness.

Love and belonging
After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled humans seek emotional needs. These include friendship, intimacy, relationships and family as humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance. This sense of belonging comes from large social groups, such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs (safety in numbers), or small social connections (family members, intimate partners, mentors, close colleagues, confidants). They need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression.

Esteem
All humans have a need to be respected and to have self-esteem and self-respect. Esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession or hobby. People who have a low self esteem (inferiority complex) need respect from others.

Self-actualization
Self-actualization is what a person's full potential is and realizing that potential. Maslow describes this desire as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. This is a broad definition of the need for self-actualization, but when applied to individuals the need is specific.

In terms of marketing marketers aim there advertising and marketing at the belonging need. The reason for this is that most people in society need to belong to a group to feel part of society as a whole and to satisfy their emotions. Shown below is a video illustrating group conformity and belonging.



Types of Groups

Aspirational - Like to belong, e.g. Celebrities, sportsman, cool people
Acquired - Joined/moved in, e.g. Educational, work, scouts
Reference - Looked to for lifestyle, e.g. Rock stars, music icons
Ascribed - Born into, e.g. Family, gender, social class
Peer - People of equal standing, e.g. School, student, work, regular contact with
Associative - Realistically belong, e.g. College, friends, neighbours
Contrived - Formed for a specific purpose, e.g. Unions, committees
Disassociation - Hate to belong, e.g. Old people, chavs

People in society choose one of the groups above to belong to and these are the groups that different marketing targets. Reference groups can be considered the most useful for marketers as they set the trends that are society of sheep's follows. With people wanting to be different and having the latest consumer items marketers can exploit this the most. A reference groups influence is more powerful and important for purchases that are:

1. Luxuries rather than necessities
2. Socially conspicuous or visible to others

Reference groups are also linked with opinion leaders who's ideas and behavior serve as a model to others. Opinion leaders communicate messages to a primary group, influencing the attitudes and behavior change of their followers (the refrence group). Therefore, in certain marketing instances, it may be advantageous to direct the communications to the opinion leader alone to speed the acceptance of an advertising message. An example of opinion leaders are shown below in the form of punks in 1983:



The main influence of groups is the acceptance of certain behaviour or the groups norms and values. An individual can react to this pressure by:

Compliance
Internalisation and identification
Counter conformity

The power to make an individual conform to group norms and values through pressure and influence is called peer pressure. A person affected by peer pressure may or may not want to be a member of a group in which peer pressure is present. Further more people affected by peer pressure may do undesirable things to fit in with the group. The power and effect of peer pressure depends on the imporatance of membership with the group, fear of negative sanctions and degree of support from others.

Peer pressure