Conformity is described as a desire to achieve peers social approval as well as their acceptance; how much can social influence change an individual’s behaviours and beliefs just to fit within a group. Research has indicated that conformity is widely identified as a main reason for students consuming alcohol (Farber, Khavari, & Douglas, 1980). Students tend to conform to the social norms of their referent group which can result in them picking up negative behaviours such as the consumption of alcohol (Martin & Hoffman, 1993). Research has identified women to conform more than men (Santee & Jackson, 1982). Females are known to view conforming as a positive aspect and more self-defining in comparison to men; additionally …show more content…
Males on the other hand are more likely to lead astray from a group and choose to instead construe their actions and develop their self-image (Santee & Jackson, 1982). However with males their ‘nonconforming’ behaviours leads to a great deal for attention directed towards them which result in plenty attention being directed to their behaviours (Eagly, Wood, & Fishbaugh, 1981). A meta-analysis was conducted by Eagly and Chrvala (1986) on group pressures and conformity; experiments had displayed women displaying higher rates of conformity in comparison to men (Eagly & Carli, 1981; Cooper, 1979). More past research has supported these findings Crutchfield (1995) and Patel and Gordon (1960) came across similar results within their research; findings displayed amongst a variety of group pressures that women in particular are more likely to yield towards social pressures than men are. Based on these findings does this mean females are more likely to develop a social identity then men, would female students appear to display a stronger association to social …show more content…
This will be done by exploring social identity development amongst university students as well as their alcohol consumption with the use of current and retrospective self-reports. Furthermore an elaboration of the social identity theory and self-categorization theory will be great at scrutinizing whether drinking behaviours do correspond with a social identity amongst university students. Additionally there has not been plenty research carried out on students and drinking within the UK, therefore this study will allow an exploration of research on the students within the UK. This study presented will test the initial hypothesis on university students which