When do people conform and why do people conform.

It's simple..It's easier to conform than to try to change things. Path of least resistance. People only tend not to conform when it directly affects them or they have been hurt by it. Even when they know that it is wrong. Sad but true.

I assume it is for acceptance, to attain some other goal, or it simply takes less effort and is safer to go with the flow. Supposing there is a God however, I would guess he would want us to 'do our own thing' and be true to ourselves, rather than mimic what we see in others, and not necessarily what our particular society expects of us. This may be why God/the Bible makes a big song and dance about having given us free-will and didn't just say 'watch the others and do what they do'. It could also be so not to get blood on his own hands of course. Conformity may bring stability, the the price can be stagnation, if not sterility. But the founders of new religions, new thought, new science and the takers of great leaps forward have been the unconventional brains among us - the Bertrand Russells, the George Cayleys and the Michael Faradays.

People conform because they don't want rejection in the group they belong. They also conform for gaining rewards.
We are concerned to our social status.

i was against conforming but it does kinda happen one way or another. Day after college graduation i got a started in my white collar employment-looking back i know it was because that's what everyone else was doing...then came marriage, 3 kids, mortgage on house and 2 cars - again cause thats what everyone else was doing. there is however a sense of security and peace conforming.so no regrets.

Because (mosbunall) - most but not all - societies train their young to seek external rewards and avoid punishment.

http://www.maybememe.com/post/42978606/why-do-people-conform

When the prize of conformity = an A+ or means that one has to spend less time in isolation (punishment) - then one has a high incentive to conform in order to meet very basic human needs for community and acceptance.

http://www.maybememe.com/post/42978606/why-do-people-conform

Further, making decisions for children and having them obey by authority I suspect greatly contributes to conformity. Rather than allowing them to figure things out by trial and error, children learn to listen "only" to what somebody or some group has to say, ie groups or cult leaders like the president of the United States.

http://www.maybememe.com/post/42978606/why-do-people-conform

Training children by punishment and reward yields adults and teens incapable of inner judgment and trust of their own experiences and sense to make good decisions.

http://www.maybememe.com/post/42978606/why-do-people-conform

Instead, we end up with children whom appear easily led and incapable of coping in a highly nuanced information age.

http://www.maybememe.com/post/42978606/why-do-people-conform

It the most basic sense, human are a fiercly social animal. We have a deeply seated need to hold a place among whatever pack we run with. People conform as soon as they are born. We act like our parents, and, later in life, we act like our friends, or those we admire.

There are shallow reasons as well, but those have been properly covered by the other answers here. I'm not talking about the need to be cool (though that is just an extension of a need for status to gain a more important and "fulfilling" role in our group), or peer pressure. Just the basic need that every human has to belong to their own little tribe.

Apes do similar things. Chimps stage wars and have their own cliques among their greater group. They from friendships, and are generally miserably and rather unpleasant when they are forced to exist without their own kind, or some other form of social interaction.

The reasoning is simple, if we act like others of our own kind, it is that much easier to have a group to mingle with.

That's mostly the why, the when is most easily detailed in those most shallow of conformities. People conform when they start learning to make friends. That is tied in with the why. We all knew the social outcast in school who had no real friends, and had no clue how to interact. Usually, just under the surface, this was a unhappy person. And often, eventually, they find a group they can easily conform to, they gain social interaction and acceptance, and they're on their way to a more fulfilling life.

Foreigners are another prime example. They are outcasts from the rest of society, no matter how accepting, until they can take on some of the qualities of those around them or they find others from their native region, and can find that interaction and socialization again.

So, to conclude and keep this already long winded answer from becoming more so:

Why: because we are a social animal and need to have other humans to interact with in a positive way.
When: Always. Humans always conform, even the rebels conform to each other's standards and ideals.

They do it, because of pressure, and when it becomes to much they conform.