Interconnection of conformism and socio-psychological characteristics of police officers which form motivation of their behaviour

Introduction. Successful professional performance of law enforcement officers depends on the level of satisfaction gained from their activity. Leaving the profession can be the result of unfavourable social and personal factors. Materials and Methods. The methods employed include V. Stephenson “Q-sorting”, T. Ehlers personality diagnostics of avoiding failures, A.M. Shubert readiness to risk diagnostics (RSK), A.V. Libina diagnostics of coping and protection strategies. The study involved 120 three- and four-year cadets of the Ufa Law Institute of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs who mastered additional programme of maintaining order during mass events (2018 FIFA World Cup). The first group included 65 male students aged from 19 to 23, the second group was represented by 55 females from 19 to 25 years old. Results and Discussion. The paper examines socio-psychological mechanisms of susceptibility to influence exerted by the group, socium. Under consideration is the influence of the group unanimity and unity on the formation of conformism, the influence of the status of an individual who expresses the group opinion concerning this problem, necessity of public debating and supporting own opinion in the group, preliminary statements preceding the discussion of the issue as the factors increasing the conformity of the group members. The researcher investigates influence personal, gender and cultural differences have on manifestations of conformism. The paper contains a brief review of socio-psychological experiments which are the basis for studying conformism as a socio-psychological phenomenon. The individual sex and age, socio-psychological characteristics of the respondents as the determinants of conformity or non-conformism are presented. Conclusions. The factors which form personal conformity are the size of the social group and its unity, social status of the individual in a group and possibility (readiness) to defend one’s own opinion, gender composition of the group and the system of cultural values in the society.