Power of influence is something that impacts us all. Some people conform to social influent and its power quicker than others. There are two types of conforming, one is private and happens internally called internalisation, where an individual starts believing what is told and what to believe and think. Another form of conforming is public and it shows in behaviour, as the individual is compliant towards group decisions and goals.
There is normative social influence where the person wants follow the crowd and to belong, and also there is informational social influence, where the individual wants to follow certain mindsets and ways of doing things. In order for the individual to stay true to themselves and to their goals and aspiration they need to examine their own beliefs, also it is important to ask question and to try and evaluate and validate the group decisions and mindsets.
In terms of validation of the group dynamics, and individual should try and be able to find motivation to examine the group, and therefore the element of choice is important, as when faced with authority and power, there may be less choice and more obedience. This will results in questions such as person identification with the groups, group size, its power over individual, and the difficulty of tasks and how to face challenges. Along the way an individual should try and be aware of culture differences, independent behaviours, and phenomena called agentic state where individual loses oneself to a person in power and try to mimic their behaviour.
Overall being aware one’s behaviour and knowing influences of others to oneself will help the person to choose what effects what parts of the social influence will have on the individual and by having and gaining this awareness as a learning process, the individual can learn from mistake and be authentic and self aware in decisions and choice. This is because there are also a lot of positive aspects to social influences, and choosing as well as knowing the positive parts is important.
Individual has power to make decisions and to be aware of ones decision while being socially
influenced in a positive way. This is to either improve behaviour or to try and be positively impacted as a person by the power of the group.