Believe it or not! We all conform. Conformity is compliance with socially accepted standards. Even though we believe that all of our thoughts and actions are self-made, there was an initial influence that was bestowed upon us by others that makes us think that way. For example, while growing up in an African-American household, The only type of music playing in the house was old-school R&B. Whether I like the music or not, everyone played that genre in the house. So what do I do? I begin to listen to old-school R&B music. I could’ve ventured off into another genre but because I wanted to enjoy the same music as my family members, I adopted old-school R&B into my life. We don’t even realize it but conforming is just a part of life and the way we grow up. We question how valid that idea of conformity is but it has been proven in various scenarios that we do conform to survive.
Test and Experiments
There have been many experiments conducted to prove how influence and conformity affect people, the most famous of experiments being the ones conducted by Solomon Asch. “Solomon Asch was a 20th-century psychologist best known for his experiments in social conformity, called the Asch Paradigm or Asch Conformity Experiments.”(GoodTherapy 2). Solomon experimented to analyze the extent to which social pressure from a majority might impact somebody to adapt. Asch devised what's presently the notion of a traditional scan in psychology, whereby there was an undeniable answer to a line judgment task. If the participant gave a confederate unsuitable reply it would be clear that this was once due to the fact of cluster strain. The end of the experiment showed that about a third of the subjects conformed with the wrong answer because they believed the majority was correct.
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Another notable experiment was done by Stanley Milgram,” He conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience.”(Wikipedia1). Milgram selected contributors for his trial by way of newspaper publicizing for male participants to participate in an investigation of mastering at Yale University. Toward the beginning of the trial, they have been acquainted with any other member, who was once a confederate of the experimenter. An educator is cautioned to oversee an electric-powered stun each time the student commits an error, expanding the diploma of stun each time. There have been 30 switches on the stun generator set apart from 15 volts (slight stun) to 450 (peril – intense shock). The student presented specifically incorrect responses, and for every one of these, the educator gave him an electric stun. At the point when the instructor would not alter a stun, the experimenter was to give a progression of requests/goads to assurance they continued.65% (66%) of individuals proceeded to the most enormous stage of 450 volts. Every one of the members proceeded to 300 volts.
The strong-minded individual you claim to be will tell you to believe what you think but the influence of a group or someone of high authority can quickly persuade your thoughts.
Personal Observations on Conformity
Now that we are aware that conformity takes place with group pressure, I decided to take matters into my own hands and study to what extent people respond to group pressure. I set up an experiment where I walked up to random People and I asked them to take a picture with my friends. My friends were told by me to throw a hand gesture in the picture but the random person did not know. Observing all my friends through their hands up in the picture, the random person (test subject) threw his hands up in the picture. I Tested my theory five times, And out of that four subjects through their hands up in the picture. What does that say about individuals? It shows that with others' influence, we are willing to give in to what other people are doing to not look stupid. Conformity is another way we survive day-to-day life. Even though 80% of my subjects fell victim to conformity, I Was still curious. I began to survey people with questions about conformity. Out of my subject group of 22 people, a large group of them swayed towards conformity answers. The fact that most of my subjects so victims of conformity just shows that people do not want to feel alone so they may change what they think without actually thinking. What does ultimately back in the Granny’s truth and we unconsciously conform as a survival tactic.
My Thoughts
After reading McRaney's book I have come to many conclusions myself that a character conforms if he or she chooses a path of action that a majority favors or that is socially acceptable. We ought to figure out for ourselves whether or not to conform to such a social etiquette. Influence impact arises from one's desire to attain approval or avoid disapproval from others. This effect happens even when people have the right conduct or opinion in mind, but they adapt it so they will fit in. Fitting in offers them a sense of belonging and alliance. We are taught as quickly as we are old sufficient to hold close the idea that it is bad to be unique and to keep away from being different. At some point, however, we should decide inside ourselves whether or not to spend each day trying to be like everyone else because society says we need to or dwelling each day properly to ourselves. Our strength as a character is tested by what we decide. The benefits of being actual to ourselves greatly outweigh any bad components of choosing a path.
The Truth About Conformity
Conformity to be a good or a bad thing. On one hand, it deteriorates diversity in people's thoughts but on the other, it may provide A more efficient and easier way to reveal something you may not have thought of. The major reasons that humans conform to the expectations of their peers is that they desire to discern who they are in the world, who they favorbecominge, and to create their very own values separate from their parents. The people who blindly conform to society’s beliefs no longer query the authority or the correctness of these ideals. A folk who blindly accepts a clique’s beliefs doesn’t ask herself if she thinks that these ideas are proper or if she concurs with them, furthering the continuation of a society that doesn’t query authority and falls into any entice placed earlier than it. Conformity is inevitable, and a skill that we use to survive in the world today. We can believe that we are strong individuals all we want but we soon realized that everything we can believe that we are strong individuals all we want but we soon realize that most things we are accustomed to today are simply things we are influenced by other people.
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