The epistemic dilemma: social proof as a threat to intellectual autonomy in the academy

Purpose This study aims to address the paradox of universities claiming to cultivate intellectual autonomy while pedagogical structures systematically activate conformity pressures, investigating when social proof triggers epistemic vice (intellectual cowardice and sloth) rather than operating as a legitimate heuristic for discerning expert opinion. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study employed the Critical Incident Technique and semi-structured interviews (60–90 min) with 18 postgraduate students recruited from several Indonesian universities. Participants narrated critical incidents of tension between their judgment and group consensus. Data were analyzed using predominantly theory-driven reflexive thematic analysis, with a coding framework derived from Vice Epistemology, Social Identity Theory, and Dual-Process Theory and inductive refinement at the subtheme level. Findings Three thematic areas emerged. First, social proof operates as an affective and moral crisis rather than merely as a cognitive mechanism. Second, four operational conditions jointly determine when participants retrospectively evaluated their own conformity as vice rather than justified deference: awareness of disagreement, explicit epistemic task framing, access to capacity/evidence, and the absence of severe coercion. Third, intellectual character develops through habituation, each suppression easing the next, with metacognitive awareness unevenly distributed among the students. Originality/value This research translates Vice Epistemology’s abstract concepts into a heuristic framework of four candidate conditions for distinguishing culpable conformity from justified deference, illustrated through participants’ accounts and offered for empirical testing rather than as validated diagnostic criteria. It foregrounds the moral phenomenology of academic conformity, a dimension rarely examined in social-psychological accounts; extends the Critical Incident Technique to epistemic phenomena in education; connects everyday conformity to research-integrity and quality-assurance concerns; and proposes five theory-informed institutional redesign hypotheses for implementation and testing in graduate education.