Academics researching social behaviour at the University of East Anglia have discovered that if you are a conformist prone to following the pack, you are not necessarily likely to be more co-operative with others.
Oddly, the study reveals that non-conformist people are more likely to work together, while those that conform to social norms are actually less likely to co-operate. Conformity levels were measured before participants were asked to play a game in which they could choose whether to contribute financially to the public good or not. Although co-operation was mutually beneficial, being non-co-operative could produce greater personal gains by taking advantage of other people's generosity.
Conformity was measured by how much participants wished to conform to social expectations. They were also asked about their attitude towards paying tax. Surprisingly for the researchers, people who scored highly on social desirability were more likely to agree with others and agree with paying tax.
Participants matched for conformity then had to decide how much to contribute to a fund for the public good, for example for education and healthcare. Highly conforming people said they would be more likely to pay tax, but when asked to share money for mutual benefit they were actually less likely to share.
"Contrary to our predictions, conformity does not equal co-operation," said psychologist Dr. Piers Fleming. "Social desirability has an impact on behaviour in that it doesn't actually lead to people co-operating more.
"The expectation is that people who are high in social desirability will conform to the effort other people are putting in, but they are conforming to the person who is not necessarily working that hard."
"If someone is less conformist they may take a lead and put in more effort, so then others may be prepared to put in more effort themselves, and the individuals and the team benefit. Conformity can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you are conforming to."