The Search for Uniqueness and Valuation of Scarcity

Abstract

The widespread pressure toward conformity in opinion and behavior in current society has captured the attention of many social scientists. Several recent attempts to integrate diverse perspectives and findings on conformity use social exchange theory (Blau, 1964; Homans, 1961, 1974; Nord, 1969b; Secord & Backman, 1964). While integrative, the social exchange view of conformity neglects some important motives, values, and costs. For instance, our research identifies a need for distinctiveness or “uniqueness,” that is, a need to see oneself as different from one’s peers, as a prevalent determinant of behavior. Thus, the outcomes of pressures to conform may depend upon the degree and nature of competing pressures for uniqueness. Alternatively, the act of conformity may arouse or augment pressure toward the foregone alternative of establishing or maintaining the self-perception of uniqueness. The present chapter develops the latter thesis by reviewing the theory and research on uniqueness and discussing implications for the social exchange view of conformity.

This paper was prepared while the first author was a visiting professor in the Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.