Asch Conformity

Throughout history, many have tried to break away from society's norms in an attempt to live life more fully, one example would be Rosa Parks when she stood up for her rights and didn't move to the back of the bus like society has shaped the laws back then. As a result of this incident, Parks ended up getting arrested and sent to court for not following the law. In contrast, some may choose to follow the rules of others thinking that’s their best decision. An example of this figure would be Boxer from the book Animal Farm, when he adopted his first motto “ I will work harder” (Orwell 18) after the first harvest following the Rebellion. Boxer never knew about the advantage Napoleon was taking on towards him,

According to Webster Dictionary, conformity is defined as, “in compliance of rules, laws, or standards.” Mark Twain’s, “Cone-pone Opinions,” demonstrates how society reacts to new conformities; individuals eventually conform to popular ideas and inevitably abandon these ideas for something greater. Twain states, “It is our nature to conform; it is force which not many can successfully resist.” (Twain 2). The reason people conform is not for self-approval, but rather, for the approval of others.

Conformity is often described as behaving the same way as everyone else to fit in. While it often has a negative connotation, conformity is an interesting phenomenon that is present in all parts of human society and can be both good and bad. Conformity is a theme present throughout many literary works, and there have been countless studies on it and its effects on people. Some of the most interesting examples can be seen in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Lemming Condition, and the Milgram Experiment.

Conformity is when a person changes him or herself to fit into a group. In order for someone to do this, he or she usually has to give up one of their personal qualities. It is highly argued over whether this is a good or a bad thing. One such book called Stargirl, demonstrates both the negative, and positive side of conformity. In the novel, author Jerry Spinelli suggests that conformity isn’t necessarily a bad thing, many just use it to become a leader.

The act of people conforming is seen every where. Any activity performed by someone that is “in the ordinary” is them conforming to the norm. In the crucible, all the girls conform to the norm, set by Abigail Williams. When Abigail faints, the girls faint, when Abigail screams, the girls scream. They mirror her in her every action due to their fear of what would occur if they did not. Same concept is seen today, for example, when you shower regularly you are conforming to the norm. You shower in fear of judgement if you were not to shower, and you shower in following the actions of others. This common action of following in others footsteps affects us by causing people to become identical and influencing people to ignore their personal morals and follow the mob of society blindly. People force physical change upon themselves due to fear of being that one

Humans often act in ways they know to be incorrect or wrong for their own social benefit, often because we fear being different. One example of this is the Asch Conformity Experiment, where 75% of participants would choose the wrong answer on an obvious question just to not stand out from the crowd. After the experiment, all said they felt self-conscious and feared disapproval from the group. Another example is when those in a social group have preferences or choices differ from the rest of the group, they will often conform to the rest of the group's opinion. Nobody wants to be the only person to dislike a certain food or think a certain way, they fear they will be judged negatively for it. As social creatures, we seek for and strive other

People may view conformity as easier to partake in then rebelling. When a person conforms they do not need to explain their different viewpoint to close opposers like their family and friends. There is no opposition, there is only peace. However, this peace can be seen externally to friends and family. Internally, the person who is reluctantly conforming to keep the amity is racked with guilt and pain. This can be seen with Langston Hughes’s written piece, “Salvation” (1940).

The article “The Case for Fitting In” compares to my idea of conformity because I think that it means how you change your opinion due to social pressure. My idea of conformity relates to the article because it was talking about how when people were in a group and someone said the wrong answer they usually went with it. “Each subject saw 18 sets of lines, and the group answer was wrong for 12 of them” this proves that most of the time people went with the group rather than going with their personal opinion. I think that the article really compares with my definition of conformity because I think that it causes you to change your opinion and sometimes causes you to choose wrong answers. I also strongly think that the article agrees with me because

In fact, this also applies to the situation of understanding what social conformity is. This subject has been around for centuries, forcing many to behave in a certain way that the society expects. The influence of peer pressure is still a topic has an impact to the world, especially the adolescents. The “[s]ocial psychologists have suggested that one core function of compliance and conformity is to maintain group harmony”(“Social Influence and the Brain:Persuasion, Susceptibility to Influence and Retransmission” Cascio,Scholz,Falk) and this applies to many individuals who value public opinions more than their own. They seek to be “good” people and make an effort to follow the trend of the crowd. More often than not, this also relates to the confidence level of an individual, “If those others agree with one’s beliefs, one gains confidence in them; if they disagree, one loses confidence” (“Conformity,” Levine). This is indeed what many people face today from all different phases of life. Daisy, one of the characters in the book The Great Gatsby, is a perfect example of a person soaked into social conformity. From the beginning of her marriage life with Tom to the end of the book, she progresses into immoral stages of life. Day after day she conforms herself into a world filled with corruptions, such as adultery and murder. Although, she is an adult, she is a character that is stuck in a stage that her age group have already

John F. Kennedy once said, “conformity is jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” I happen to think this quote is very true, because if no one ever had a different opinion, then would anything ever change? Or would it all stay the same? Forever? The idea of conformity can be seen as a good, or a bad thing. In many cases it is a bad thing, as one idea that is wrong is the only one that people think is right. This can specifically be seen in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Atticus, one of the main characters, needs to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. In his town of Maycomb most of the people think of black people as nothing. Although the whole town would be against him if he did it, Atticus knows that it is the right

John F. Kennedy once said, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”. This has been a puzzling idea for many; most of us are grown into some form of conformity at one time or another. At what point does following the rules become wrong? When is it too much? Over the years many people begin to question what the acts of following the crowd can mean; whether or not we need these orders, and structures to function; or whether it’s really worth losing yourself just to make everybody else happy. When does it become too much? And once is does, how do we break the cycle? This topic has been used throughout many different mediums; films, and literature, all alluding to the signs, and actions of when conformity is doing nothing

Conforming to societal norms has been shown many times throughout history one example of conformity is during the Holocaust. Hitler had such a powerful control over so many people so they all had followed his commands and did as he said because they were scared to be punished and they were scared to act out against what everyone else was doing. Hitler had such a strong influence on these people they had lost their individualism and were committing horrible acts because of the fact that they conformed to Hitler’s society. Just like Beatty these people were hiding who they were because they were scared of what would happen to them, if they had done what they thought was right instead of conforming like everyone else. People lost who they were by following the rest of society and continued carrying out these awful actions of killing innocent people even though it may not have been what they believed was truly right. These people were acting extremely different than who they actually were. Another example of how conformity is shown throughout society is the

Conformity can mark a loss of the individuality and humanity within a society, but those who do not conform will be seen as strange and different. Bradbury and Vonnegut warn against conforming and becoming a truly equal society.

Not all American literature relies on the idea of a conformative society. Ralph Waldo Emerson , and early transcendental writer, describes a way to defeat conformity by using individual thinking in his writing piece, Self-Reliance: “The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs”. By calling self-reliance as the aversion of conformity, he is implying that conformity needs to be averted.

That quote is stating that it’s not always right to follow the crowd but instead to follow your own footsteps.