The measurement of conformity

Allport'sJ-curve hypothesis of conforming behavior and its attendant treatment of appropriate data are criticized on the following points: (1) narrowness of application; (2) flexibility of interpretation of results; (3) arbitrary selection of a criterion of conformity; (4) lack of a means by which the extent of conformity in one situation can be compared with that in another; (5) inequality of telic units. As an alternative treatment of such data, the method of higher moments is suggested and rationalized. Data from Allport and Solomon are reworked by this method and results compared.