Conformity In Social Psychology

Many individuals is faced with the decision of conforming or choosing personal desire, and it is not an easy decision. It is hard because being shunned by others for being different is not a good feeling. Choosing to conform over personal desire, often leads to loss. On the other hand, personal desire is what sets others apart and gives them joy. In the poem, “The Jackhammer Syndrome”, Al Purdy discusses the good and bad memories he has experienced. He goes through his memories of when he had fun and made mistakes, but he reflects on what he could have done better. The author of “The Jackhammer Syndrome informs against choosing the welcoming joy of conformity over the long-term gains of personal desire. Making the decision to pursue conformity over personal desire may seem easy at first, but if the choice is to conform, the joy it gives will not last. Making the decision to pursue conformity over personal desire Conformity may seem to give joy at first, but it does not last. When Al is playing pool with his brother, he wants to win badly, but losses. However when he did not care to win, Al wins! Conforming can lead to loss but personal desire has much to gain. If the choice is to conform, personal identity may be lost. In my life, I recognize several instances in which I found several similarities between Al and myself. I have made decisions that were not always good ones such as swimming across long distances with friends.

Conformity is a concept that has been heavily researched in the field of social psychology. Conformity is defined as a change in behavior, beliefs, and attitudes due to group pressure perceived as real (encompassing the presence of others) or imagined (encompassing the pressure of social standards) (Myers, 2010, p. 192). The concept of conformity is a powerful influence on the tendency for people to arrange their thoughts, perspectives, and ideas with others, especially when in a group. This takes away from a person’s individuality because they want to feel accepted by others and therefore, a person will accomplish this basic need of approval through conforming.

When we look back at a certain time or memory we can see our mistakes, but when you are currently in the situation things aren't so obvious. However, though if we think about things before we advance many problems can be avoided. This image by Tommy Ingberg, titled Army shows the effect conformity has on people, and how it makes us blind to everything around us since we are after being like everyone

I think almost everything about this article is true. From social conformity leading to depression to it leading to thoughtless, dangerous acts. The one repeated story that has social conformity at the center of it is the teen that drank because he felt pressured by everyone. Social conformity is a real problem and needs to be solved. I shouldn’t be afraid to be who they are naturally. We should feel comfortable with expressing our opinion, and yes there will be some that won’t agree with what you have to say but that is your opinion and you should be proud you voiced it instead of keeping it inside. We shouldn’t be getting overly stressed about trying to fit into a “popular” group. Just being who we are is enough and if more people start to

Scientific studies have consistently shown that people are influenced in their decision-making processes according to social psychology. For example, a psychologist named Stanley Milgram conducted a study to test the affects of obedience to authority. He selected a group of male volunteers and told them that they were randomly selected to be “teachers” and “learners,” though every volunteer in the study was given the role of the teacher. The volunteers were instructed to teach the learners a series of words under supervision of an experimenter and give them a “shock” whenever they failed. The shocks were gradually increased until the learners began to exhibit signs of fear and pain – this is when the experimenter would tell the volunteers to continue with the experiment despite the obvious discomfort that both the teacher and learner were experiencing. 65% of the volunteers continued with the experiment until a fatal “shock” was given due to the social influence of the experimenter! This study proved that an individual's obedience to authority can directly bypass their morals and consequently affect their behavior.

A final conclusion that the previous researchers failed to address is that conformity is a social construct and cross cultural differences should be addressed when speaking on conformity. Se Hyung Ho (Konkuk University) performed a study testing how the cultural norms of an individual affect their tendency to conform to the group. Ho performed a study that included American men and women and Indian men and women, for his study Ho provided each subject a questionnaire containing situations that would either promote or discourage conformity. Ho gave one sample, of both American and Indian men and women, a questionnaire that provided a persuasive argument for each situation while the other sample received a questionnaire without a persuasive

“ Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth” was a quote stated by John F. Kennedy, expressing the way we have come to hold ourselves captive underneath a society that revolves around prejudice and the automatic mindset of conforming. People living in this time period are oblivious to the changes that they are enforcing on their own, having them fit this flawless portrayal that every person desires to meet. Although it takes time to realize, conforming to society has the world entirely consumed and yearning for more in which is never viewed as a halt to growth. Satisfaction, although a state of mind is a temporary one that never seems to loosen its grip on our way of thinking and actions to best fit the “norm” that is allowed and confided into. Though it is felt that after reaching full potential in everyone else’s eyes, the need to necessitate will disappear, however, our society evolves, keeping youth from being their own human beings, having limits in growth of maturity and individualism as well as having others consumed to the point where stress is inevitable for one’s sake.

Conformity may be a phenomenon that is strongly influential, and this can be supported by the studies discussed previously, however what they did not consider cultural differences. And this statement can be supported by Smith and Bond’s (1996) study; they carried out a meta-analysis of Asch’s studies. They examined changes of conformity over time, because the American culture developed throughout the years. Another area they examined was the impact of cultural values on conformity, specifically the differences in individualism-collectivism (Smith and Bond, 1996). They carried out a meta-analysis of 133 conformity studies that used the Asch paradigm. The meta-analysis showed that more conformity was obtained in collectivistic countries like

Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and and. behaviors to .group. norms(Boundless, 2014). Simplifying it; Crutchfield in 1995 is quoted .saying that conformity is basically labeled as “yielding to group pressures”(McLeod, 2007). The majority of people conform to their surrounding standards without even noticing it(Advameg, 2014). Conforming is not necessarily bad or good. Advameg (2014) gives the example of how people stop at a red light even though a law enforcer may not be around. A small amount of conformity is required to have an organized society(Boundless, 2014). However the view of conformity is .distinct .from .nation to nation. Since conventionality does exist everywhere,

As social creatures, we are greatly influenced by our environment and more specifically, our social environment. Conformity is one type of social influence that we are subjected to, whether it is real or imagined, and involves the way in which we change our beliefs or behaviors in order to fit in with a certain group (McLeod, 2007). Typically, conformity is used to describe an agreement to that of the majority position. Aronson (2012), describes conformity using three levels: compliance, identification, and internalization. Compliance is used to describe the behaviors of a person who is motivated by a desire to either gain a reward, or avoid punishment (Aronson, 2012). On the other hand, identification explains how sometimes individual’s responses

In pyschology conformity can be descibed as an indiviual’s tendency to follow the unspoken rules or behaviours of the social group to which he/she belongs to or wants to be apart of. Many psychologists including , Jenness (1932), Sherif (1935) both experimented in psychology, investigating conformity and group pressure. However, perhaps the most famous conformity experiment was done by Solomon Asch (1951) and his line judgment experiment. (McLeod 2007)

Conformity has been a point of contention for many years in our society. Conformity is an essential elements that help to maintain standard of ethics. Nauture of the job and professionalism aspect are the vital to consider wheather conformity is appropriate for the people to explore their creativity.

The impact of society on human behavior (social influence, where a person’s actions and thoughts are influenced by the people around him/her) lies in the management of society by its members and is directly correlated with nationalism, especially extreme nationalism, which the Kurds are notorious for (which also relates to the concept of conformity). Recently, The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused armed groups of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (A militant Kurdish nationalist group (PKK)) in Iraq of using minors to combat terrorist groups like ISIS or Al-Qaeda. Activists of international human rights organizations say they have documented 29 cases in which Kurdish children were included in the armed group's People Self-Defense Force (NSS),

The influence of other people can cause individuals to change their point of view or alter their behaviour. There are two types of social influence; normative social influence,which is when the individual will go along with the majority in order to appear ‘normal’, and then informational social influence, when the individual conforms because they trust the judgement of those in authority positions such as teachers, doctors and parents. If an individual is influenced the majority and becomes compliant to others, this is known as conforming. Kelman (1958) argued that there are three types of conformity; internalisation, compliance and identification. A study by Sherif (1935) tested the effects of informational social influence and conformity. Later on, Asch (1951) conducted a research study looking at the effects of normative social influence and conformity on individuals. Zimbardo (1973) studied conformity to social roles in order to demonstrate how certain roles have behaviours expected from society. These studies demonstrate how an individual may behave due to social influence in a set up environment that can then be related to real world situations.

In this journal, the topics that I will be discussing are public conformity, private conformity and the norm of reciprocity.