How did U.S. soldiers’ opinions change after transferring to different military units during World War II?

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Portrait print of Jacques Necker by Henri Grevedon after Joseph-Sifford Duplessis, showing Necker in 18th-century attire with a lace cravat and curled hair, facing slightly right. — public opinion Jacques Necker, print by Henri Grévedon after a painting by Louis-Joseph-Siffrède Duplessis, 1822; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

During World War II, research into public opinion and social influence revealed that U.S. soldiers who transferred between military units frequently adjusted their personal attitudes and opinions to align with the prevailing norms of their new unit.1

This phenomenon illustrates the broader sociological principle that individuals often modify their beliefs to conform to the social environment of the groups to which they belong. By adopting the attitudes prevalent in their new surroundings, soldiers demonstrated the powerful impact that immediate social circles—such as work or peer groups—have on shaping and shifting individual perspectives.1