Indian Idols Drinking Milk: Understanding the Phenomenon and Its Implications for Social Reform

The mass media have occasionally been reporting miracles such as stone idols sipping milk or bleeding in India. The author argues for viewing such irrational happenings as the examples of the social psychological phenomenon of conformity to the group norms (i.e., informal, unwritten prescriptions of what the group might think to be right and desirable). By identifying people as likely (1) sources of accurate information and (2) standards of desirable behaviors in a given situation, it is proposed that a shift from conformity to the norms to compliance to the laws might be helpful in building a New India.