Do individuals conform to the pressures of all the groups to which they belong? Obviously not because people belong to many groups and their norms vary and sometimes are contradictory. So what do people do? They conform to the important groups to which they belong or hope to belong. These important groups are reference groups in which a person is aware of other members, defines himself or herself as a member or would like to be a member, and feels group members are significant to him or her. The implication, then, is that all groups do not impose equal conformity pressures on their member.