Group Conformity, opinion leaders and peer pressure....

A group is two or more people who have the same aim, have the same task to complete and have the same understanding...

A group can be described as a set of individuals working together to accomplish something... Businessdictionary.com defines group as "A collection of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interaction, mutual influence, common feeling of camaraderie, and who work together to achieve a common set of goals."

Groups have aims to achieve a target which they have set to accomplish. The aim of the group might be to complete a task or to encourage one another to build a better relationship between the group components.

There are many different types of groups; below is a list of different groups:

•  Aspiration
• Dissociative
• Associative     
• Formal group
• In-formal
• Peers
• Reference groups

Every individual fits in to a group...

Even if that’s university course group members, team mates, work mate’s family or friends... individuals all tend to believe they need to satisfy group members; therefore they pick up habits from group members around them.

Businessdictionary.com defines reference groups as "People whose attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions, preferences, and values are used by an individual as the basis for his or her judgment. One does not have to be (or even aspire to be) a member of a reference group to be negatively or positively influenced by its characteristics." Solomom et.al (1999) defines reference group as

'An actual or imaginary individual or group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individual's evaluations, aspirations, or behaviour'

Opinion Leaders

Businessdictionary.com defines opinion leaders as ‘Influential members of a community, group, or society to whom others turn for advice, opinions, and views.’ Businessdictionary.com also defines opinion leader as ‘Minority group (called early adopters) that passes information on new products (received from the media) to less adventuresome or not as well informed segments of the population. However, only products such as automobiles, books, and clothing are susceptible to such influencers whereas appliances, food, toiletries, etc., are not.’

Peer pressure

Dictionary.com defines peer pressure as ‘social pressure by members of one's peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted.’

Peers everyday make loads o decisions everyday... these decisions are made by influences each other... individuals listen to their peers and make decisions depending on the advice given by peers..

Every individual has been through peer pressure.... I have also been peer pressured because i was influenced by the group I used to hang around with to smoke... Individuals smoke to satisfy the group they associate with..