Conformity. It's everywhere you look in human society. We're all copying each other like crazy all the time, often without realising it. It's well established by researchers - like Solomon Asch in his famous experiment in 1955 - that people will disown the evidence of their own eyes in the struggle to conform with other people. (You can try a simple version of it here - damn it I conformed!)

But what evidence is there from other species? A recent study has shown that chimpanzees conform to each other just like humans - even when they don't need to.

In this study, two different social groupings of chimps were intially taught two different ways of getting food out of container. Both worked equally well and both groups were eventually exposed to both methods. Despite this, and after trying out the competing technique for a short period, each social grouping stuck to its own method in the long-term.

The experimenters argue that this provides a parallel of the way human social groups establish a behavioural 'norm'. For example forming an orderly queue at the post office is a culturally transmitted norm of which we British are strangely proud. I'd like to see chimps form a queue!
Nature
The Guardian

Making Habits, Breaking Habits

In his new book, Jeremy Dean--psychologist and author of PsyBlog--looks at how habits work, why they are so hard to change, and how to break bad old cycles and develop new healthy, creative, happy habits.

→ "Making Habits, Breaking Habits", is available now on Amazon.

Reviews
The Bookseller, “Editor’s Pick,” 10/12/12 “Sensible and very readable…By far the most useful of this month’s New You offerings.”

Kirkus Reviews, 1/1/13 “Making changes does take longer than we may expect—no 30-day, 30-pounds-lighter quick fix—but by following the guidelines laid out by Dean, readers have a decent chance at establishing fulfilling, new patterns.”

Publishers Weekly, 12/10/12 “An accessible and informative guide for readers to take control of their lives.”

→ You can dip into the first chapter, or check it out on Amazon.com.