People around an individual will always try to influence them in a particular direction. They will attempt to dictate on how the individual should conduct their lives; the dictations could be direct or indirect. The direct influence is whereby one has to conduct their lives based on the set social rules and regulations. In the indirect influence, one is just expected to flow with the prevailing social norms and values of a group of a people. What follows from all the influences is called social conformity. An overwhelmed person has to change their behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs just to fit within a group. However, it is not a must for one to conform to the social expectations, but some are too weak to stand up against social conformity. Therefore, the role of social conformity is to control a person, but an individual can always resist and live as they wish.
Social conformity is to give in to the pressures by one's group or associates. Many of the people can trace back and see they have at some points found themselves socially conforming. Therefore, social conformity is limited to the change and the transformation of behavior caused by other individuals. For example, a group attends a play in a theater, and when the play is over, almost all of
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They change their behavior to be accepted by the majority in the group. They want to be seen as ordinary and do away with any unique characteristics in them. They want to remain as plain as possible so as not to offend or be mocked by their associates in the group. What they forget is that, they destroy their gifts and talents when they conform; they are fall into the trap of social conformity and set themselves up to be controlled. Then they end up minimum actualizing their maximum potential. One should understand that the central role of social conformity is to control individuals, but through boldness and self-creating, one can resist
Conformity is defined as the occurrence of people yielding to social pressures as a result of pressure from a group of their peers; when faced by the pressure to conform, people will alter their behaviour and actions to fit the norm demonstrated by their peers (Lilienfield et al., 2012). Conformity is studied so that is can be understood and used in society to facilitate positive outcomes, and help avoid situations where peoples’ predisposition to conform leads to negative consequences (Lilienfield et al., 2012). By understanding conformity and other social processes society as a whole is able to understand themselves better and motivates them to work on improving as a whole (Lilienfield et al., 2012).
Another point I agree with is that it's a lot easier to just fit in and not lead the train and being yourself. I personally know from experience. Growing up I always tried to conform just to fit in with the people that surrounded me. It's not just me that i've seen conform to fit in, i've seen many of my friends conform to fit in with the crowd. All around me, everyday people are conforming and changing to fit in with the society.
Conformity is defined as behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. This is not a good or bad thing, this just is. It exists as a compliment to earlier humans congregating into larger groups, using agriculture and domestication to create sustenance. Also, conformity is essential for life. We need people to share the same ideas, ideologies and a way of thinking in order to work efficiently and effectively. There many examples that exist like, at work or in your house and even within yourself. Sigmund Freud has explained the phenomena of group psychology in a piece titled, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Using Freud’s theory of conformity I will explain the self, what we call “me”,and its different constituents using The Principles of Psychology by
In society, it's difficult to go against the norm. Individuals are compelled to act a specific way, or look a specific way in order to be accepted. For instance, teenagers may encounter pressure from their peers to partake in specific exercises that may not be moral, since they feel the need to fit in. This weight of conformity isn't just present in reality; it can be found in literature as well. The story "St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell depicts that in order to conform to society, individuals abandon their selflessness and compassion and become selfish and apathetic.
Conformity means a change in one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people. As a teenager, the pressure to conform to the societal “norm” plays a major role in shaping one’s character. Whether this means doing what social groups want or expect you to do or changing who you are to fit in. During class, we watched films such as Mean Girls, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Breakfast Club which demonstrate how the pressure to conform into society can change who you are. In the movies we have seen, conformity was most common during high school.
The definition of conformity is the compliance with social standards and laws in a particular culture, environment, society and time. If this occurs the individual changes their attitudes, beliefs or actions to align more holistically with those in the surrounding groups and environment, as a result of real or perceived group pressure. This is ultimately a direct result of the power which a group has over the individual. There are two types of conformity, normative conformity, and informational conformity. The motivation behind normative conformity is the desire to be liked and accepted in society. This is most widely known as peer pressure. For example, a student begins smoking because their peers
Conformity can be useful when in unfamiliar surroundings or activities. Several examples make their appearance everyday like dancing. Dancing is a fun activity, but when it’s unclear what kind of dancing to do. What happens then? It’s in everyone’s best interest to mimic the people who know what they’re doing to avoid embarrassment. In some way or another, everyone has done it throughout their life but it is really handy in the right
Pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform to societal expectations is a challenging decision to make. A person must decide if their personal desire is worth risking the shame and judgment of others or is conforming the route to take because it is easier. When pursuing a personal desire one must ask itself if it is worth the hardship to accomplish one's desire or if it is best left alone and repressed, in hopes of finding comfort in conformity. John Laroche from The Orchid Thief expresses his personal desire without a care for conformity or societal expectations. Nevertheless, Laroche never stopped being strange as he grew up with fascinations of many objects such as orchids, turtles, old mirrors and fish tanks.
In every society, there is conformity and nonconformity, although we may not notice it. Conformity is when someone is doing the same thing as others because they do not want to be the only one doing differently. Example, if there was a whole class raising their hands would you want to be the only one with your hand down, no so you would raise it with the rest of the class to not look like you don't know anything. This is called social pressures it when a large group is doing something and you're the only one not then you want to be doing whatever that large group is doing.
Conformity involves the changing of one’s attitudes, opinions, or behaviours to match those of the ‘norms’. The “norms”, established by society, are what we should or ought to be thinking, feeling, or doing if we wish to be accepted into a group. This desire to be accepted and belong to a group is an undeniable human need.
Conformity, compliance and obedience are behavioural consequences of social influence (real or imagined social pressure) that occur in the presence of a group or other individuals (Elsenbroich & Xenitidou, 2012). Often these concepts are misinterpreted as being the same or even synonymous and while they do have similarities they are also very dissimilar. In social psychology conformity, compliance and obedience are distinct concepts that coincide due to their effect on behaviour in the presence of others. Pascual, Line Felonneau, Guéguen & Lafaille (2013) define conformity as an altering of behaviour and beliefs in an individual in order to reflect the behaviour and beliefs of the group that holds influence, though Myers (2014) emphasises that
So conformity not only causes people to behave in ways around people that is socially acceptable, it also can cause people to want to avoid people altogether. Conformity is a powerful tool used by a society to cause people to react and behave in ways that are either what is the most accepted way of doing something, or in a way that the ruling body wants in order to keep people under their control. It can have positive effects on a culture as well as negative ones, depending on the nature of the action and to the extent it is done. Brave New World warns us of what could happen if we allow ourselves to be controlled like puppets and become content with a static population.
Being the social animals, humans need a sense of belonging in a society. Therefore, people are willing to do anything to fit in and to avoid a social punishment, including, changing their
What are the things that make us conform? Why do certain people conform or choose not to conform? This topic in social psychology peaked my interest because I’ve noticed myself conforming on different occasions. Have you ever found yourself going along with what everyone else is doing? Why do you think you conform? While researching this topic I found some answers that will help elaborate on these questions.
The group wants the individual to conform to their ideals and normative values and actions (Smelser, 1963). The group influence stresses conformity, or the adhering to the standards of the group, as a way to create a structural level of dominance and submission in a way. The group wants cohesiveness so that everyone in the group is following the same set of standards and will all act the same way (Smelser, 1963). Group influence can at times be beneficial, there are times when the individual should participate in actions that have been influenced by the group. These actions could include such things as: being polite, having table manners, using a proper greeting, doing homework, not being disrespectful in places of worship, and so forth. Group influence can