People deploy biases to feel comfortable about their own conformity

Evidence

What are the emotions people experience when they conform: do they feel reactance or a sense of choice? Because the mere fact of conformity is so powerful, despite the lack of people’s reports of their conformity, are there biases and processes that people use to feel comfortable about conforming? What are the internal costs of deviating from social norms? Do people change their view of themselves as they conform and deviate? — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1934

Categorization

• QUESTION: The empirical literature on conformity denial and self-told narratives of choice deserves chasing — people report agency they do not have.
• XREF: connects to: People conform publicly to beliefs they privately reject — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 321