Asch On Conformity

The acts of conforming and obeying shape us significantly, whether we are conscious of it or not. They do so in ways that psychologists Solomon Asch and Stanley Milgram attempt to explain through their research. Asch touches base on the topic of conformity and discusses the ways in which group behaviors and social norms can influence the decisions an individual makes. On the other hand, Milgram’s focus is on obedience, and he studied it by measuring average, everyday people and their willingness to obey authority figures, even if it involves actions that go against their personal beliefs and morals. They have provided evidence through experiments, and with this information, it becomes easier to understand the world of politics, and how these

Conformity- individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately. This is most likely among middle-class individuals who have good opportunities to achieve, but Merton sees it as the typical response of most Americans.

There are a lot of factors that influence our behavior like genetics, environment, habits, culture, and situations. We as people, act a certain way depending on many aspects of our lives. These aspects are what makes people share a common view, and connect with a group. Solomon Asch, a pioneer in social psychology began early to study the effects of conformity on our behavior. His studies were interesting because it found out why or when people are more inclined to join a group, what factors affect conformity, and if gender had a huge impact on conformity. His study was so important because it scientifically, proved the social factors that affect conformity, and it opened a field of study that has broadened our knowledge on other reason that makes people conform.

Do you think this research was ethical or unethical? Explain your reasoning using APA ethical guidelines described in Chapter

In Communications Between Cultures individualism and collectivism are described by researchers as “self-orientation versus collective orientation as one of the basic pattern variables that determine human action.” These differences can be found in family life, school, and workplace

We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove.

Conformity has engrained itself in the American society at a conscious or subconscious level, and whether person knows it or not, most do not do anything to change it. An average person has conformed to at least one thing in their life, whether it is conforming to a dress code, buying specific products, or even having religion telling you the way to act. America has conformed to what is perceived as society’s standards and to be quite frank, it’s boring.

This PIP will deepen my public knowledge and personal experience as it gives me the opportunity to critically examine society as a whole, and provides me with more practical research experience. This PIP goes across the micro, meso, and micro worlds, as it provides me with a deep understanding of people’s personal lives through qualitative research and a broad view of the macro world through quantitative research. This PIP will deepen my understanding of the Society and Culture course, by directly relating to the depth study of conformity and non-conformity. This PIP will also deepen my abilities as a social researcher and enhance my socio-cultural literacy by countenancing me to augment my skills through practical experience. Through this PIP I hope to investigate the social and cultural agents which has contributed to this trend as well as investigate why it is prominent in different cultures than in

At the close of World War 2 rotary-wing aviation began its transition into a so-called “renaissance” period. New and exciting advancements were being made to give new aircraft greater stability and range. After many demonstrations on exactly what an aircraft could do, the United States Army decided to adopt rotary wing aircraft to fill a search and rescue (SAR) role initially. During the Korean War, medical evacuations and search and rescue missions took up the majority of missions for our pilots. However, we were very limited in what we could achieve. The technology was primitive in using piston driven engines along with heavier parts than necessary. Seeing how useful slow moving aircraft were to our forces, Army Aviation leaders began

This wasn't the first time Flame had sent himself to the asylum, it would be the third time. He wasn’t actually sick, he was just pretending, so he could get away from it for a little bit. Away from what? You may be asking. Well, you see… Flame was the most popular kid at school along with getting ace grades, even though his “brother” didn't really care. On the outside it looked as if Flame had the perfect life, although he knew something was off. Now as for the asylum thing; there was this one kid at school who wasn't always there, but when he was, Flame wanted no part in his shenanigans. He came up with the brilliant idea to appear wrong in the head. He would be sent away for three months and then come back, good as new. Though this time

For some, conformity is an unthinkable evil in American society. All individuals living within a community conform in some way to social norms, yet to label someone a conformist is akin to labeling them ignorant and unoriginal. However, conformity - and its associated impacts - are as integral to the functioning of society as the principles of nonconformity. Conformity is often positively utilised to induce positive social change nationally and internationally. It prompts dissemination of workload, provides protection (‘strength in numbers’), and encourages strict rule enforcement. Although less appreciated than non conformists, conformists and their resulting principles play a vital role in the smooth conduction of society.

People’s attitudes can be influenced by the culture they are apart of, this is because individual thoughts, actions and feelings are influenced by social groups (Social influence, n.d.). This is also known as social influence which can contribute to the development of our attitudes as it may encourage members to change their beliefs, thoughts and feelings. People can conform with people in culture to have the same attitudes. Conformity can be formed through direct interaction between family, friends and teachers as well

To understand why we have a sense of conformity, we must first understand value. “Values are used to learn people’s culture, ideas, and what they want out of life (Henslin 49). Every culture has similar and different values. “Norms are the expectations a group develops concerning the ‘right’ way to reflects its values” (Henslin49). An example of a norm would be personal space and speaking quietly in certain places such as a library. When norms are violated people often begin to question the person’s sanity and well-being based on how extreme the norm violation was.

Expanding on that, a person is immeresed in his/her culture since birth, and has no choice but to adopt the values necessary to survive. An individualistic community encourages a person to make his/her own choices; moreover, one would be less concerned about the “we” and more concerned about the “I”. This lowers conformity levels, because each person is willing to do what he/she wants and is more concerned about self-surival than harmony in the community. A strength of this study could be participant variability because it eliminates the possibility of this behavior only being limited to one type of person/community. Accordingly, a limitation could be the lack of ecological validity (one will not be asked to identify the length of a line in real life), and the multitude of confounding variables including the time and place, which could influence the results. Overall, the study demonstrates how individualism affects behavior, since a person who demonstrates indivdualistic behavior would exhibit less conformity, as seen above.

From my birth, to my first steps, to learning to ride a bike; My mom has always been there for me. She has been my biggest supporters at every sporting event, my number one fan in life. The amount of advice and life lessons I have learned from her are countless. It all started when I was 10 years old, a girl just starting middle school. With this step in my life came a boatload of new opportunities, but also responsibilities that I was not prepared for. At the time I was a bit blind, and needed somebody to help open up my eyes to the real world. I have never gotten anything in life without working at least a little bit for it. I remember when I was going into middle school and it was time for back to school shopping. My best friend had just gone to the Woodfield Mall and had an extensive shopping spree. I became jealous of her new items and wanted them for myself too, so I spent several days online shopping and compiled a list of items that I wanted, worth about the same as a new car. When my mom got home from work the following night, I presented this list to her. Thinking that this was completely reasonable, I started with my wants from Nordstrom: “Ok, so I want all nineteen of these shirts, and I need to add to my jewelry collection, so these five necklaces, and the total will only be 978 bucks!”