The #1 most important study on this matter was originally designed to prove how much humans don't conform. Now, however, it is the study most point to to show just how much humans conform.
It is called the Asch Experiment, and it involved 6 people sitting around a semi-circle, and 5 of them are actors and there's 1 subject. This study has been replicated many times and never ceases to work.
They show you the subject and actors 3 lines varying in length, a tall line, a short line, and a medium line, and they are obviously longer or shorter than one another. They are then asked which line on the left matches the line on the right?
What they then do is ask the actors to name the correct answer the first two times they go around the table and ask people what they think. On the third time and every time thereafter, they ask the actors to say the wrong answer.
What happens over 80% of the time, is that initially the subject may disagree the first time they go around the table.
They may even disagree the second time, but the third time is different.
The third time you see the subject conform, and follow whatever everyone else is saying. Even though they may label themselves and non-conformists and you may say to yourself, I would never do that! But the facts don't lie. So, why?
Well it's because we're social animals, and fear social judgment, even by random strangers. We don't want to be ostracized, or removed from the society, even though that is not something we have to worry about today. Our reptilian brain still always worries about it nonetheless. Most people tend to get self-conscious in public and worry about what others are thinking of them, even though everybody is too busy worrying about what others are thinking of them, and nobody cares much what anyone else is up to.
Furthermore, disagreeing is very uncomfortable and causes tension in our bodies. It is the same reason behind why sit-com shows have laughter going on in the background. This is programmed into the ancient, reptilian part of our brain and is extremely difficult to get conquer.
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