Journal of Neurodevelopmental Cognition
Quarterly Publication

Normative and Informational Conformity in Adolescents and Young Adults: The Role of Individual Differences

https://doi.org/10.48308/jncog.2026.243241.1033
Volume 6, Issue 4
Autumn 2025
Pages 47-66
Journal of Neurodevelopmental Cognition

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Neda Ghaemi 1
Fatemeh Bakouie 2
Khatereh Borhani 3

1 Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 Cognitive Modeling Department, Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract
Objective: Individuals conform to others due to normative and informational influences; however, the rate of conformity varies across individuals. This study aimed to explore the role of individual differences in people's conformity to others. We hypothesized that age would be a significant predictor of conformity, such that normative and informational conformity would differ between adolescents and young adults. Additionally, we hypothesized that personality traits would predict both normative and informational conformity.
Method: To examine how individual differences affect conformity under these two types of influence, we conducted a behavioural task in which participants (N = 111) could change their responses after observing majority responses. After completing the task, we assessed participants' personality traits, willingness to conform, and emotional experiences during the task using several questionnaires and surveys.
Results: The results showed that normative conformity decreased in adolescents and young adults with higher openness, whereas it increased in young adults with greater extraversion and younger adolescents. Furthermore, in adolescents, higher openness was associated with reduced informational conformity.
Discussions: This study revealed a significantly higher rate of normative and informational conformity in adolescents. Individual traits can predict normative conformity in adolescents and young adults, while Individual traits can predict informational conformity only in adolescents. Additionally, only young adults felt pressured when they changed their responses based on others' responses.

Keywords

Social influence
Conformity
Normative influence
Informational influence
Individual differences
  • Receive Date 15 September 2025
  • Revise Date 18 October 2025
  • Accept Date 26 November 2025

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