Conformity and obedience are both social behaviors that are influenced by those around us and determines our behavior in social situations. When we change our attitude or behavior based on those around us, we are conforming to their behavior. When we obey what we are told, by what we perceive to be an authority figure, we are being obedient. Conformity and obedience can have positive or negative results on our lives, depending on the situation and the individuals involved. Symbolic interactions are not all the same theoretically. Although all the scholars concur that the people depend on shared secret codes to build their actuality and on the practical prerequisite of understanding behavior by entering the actuality of the actor, …show more content…
The confederates were told ahead of time what their responses would be. The line judgment test had a standard line and three other lines. Out of the three lines, one line was the same length as the standard line, one was shorter and one was longer. The object was to see if the subject would agree with the other individuals. The wrong answer was given by the confederates to see if the subject would conform or stand alone. Out of eighteen trials, twelve of which being “critical trials”, approximately 75% of the subjects conformed at least once and 25% of the subjects never conformed. He found that subjects conformed with the wrong answers of the majority but did not actually agree with their answers. Therefore, individuals conform as a result of reasons such as wanting to fit in with the majority or because they of the assumption that the group has better information as compared to them. Children always seem to need the approval of their friends. They want to look and act cool. The clothes trends, the haircuts, the cars, etc. If they want to be cool, they have to be like the cool kids. If the cool kids sneak out at night, that’s what they need to do. If the cool kids are drinking beer at parties, they have to do it too. Group size also has a major effect on conformity. The larger the group size, the increase in conformity. Once the group reaches a certain point, there is little change. Conformity is also exhibited in how
When someone has conformed to fit into a group they might not realize what they did. Some people conform subconsciously to a person. They follow without knowing it. In the novel Stargirl, a boy named Wayne Parr was the leader of Mica High School. The thing is, the students
Conformity refers to an individual’s behavior that is performed because of group pressure, even though that pressure might not involve a direct request. Many people want to think that they are conformist enough so that they are not looked upon as strange to others and nonconformist enough to demonstrate that they are capable of thinking by themselves. For many years, psychologists have been interested in human conformity. Usually when people are in groups, they behave according to how those in the group behave. That indicates that conformity can affect a person’s behavior and make a person do things that may be against their ethics, attitudes, and morals. The study of
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 form of social influence, when we conform we act and think like members of our group. Often people even alter or change their personal beliefs to match those around them. When we conform we feel pressured to fit in with others, to be a part of the majority. While we may still have contradicting beliefs towards things, we change our behaviors and actions to match what everybody else is
Solomon Asch set up a laboratory experiment using deception and confederates to determine what factors were involved in conformity and individual decisions in group decisions. Asch instructed subjects to choose which of three lines was the same length as the original line shown. Each subject was on a panel with seven other subjects, however in reality were confederates. The experimenter demonstrated the two cards and asked the individuals to choose the line on the comparison card that is the same length as the standard line. In the second trial the process was repeated again. However, on the third trial, when the card is revealed everyone gave wrong answers. The results indicate that approximately 75% of the subjects went with the group’s
To start with it is important to determine what each of these social processes mean, in order to understand which psychological factors are involved. Conformity is a behavioural change in response to social pressure, either real or imagined. Compliance is a behaviour change in response to an explicit request to perform an action. Obedience is a behaviour change in response to a demand or order to carry out an action. Each of these processes are undertaken due to different psychological pressures being put on the individual, from believing that they have no choice but to carry out the action – obedience, to carrying out the action because they want to feel accepted.
Summary The video, “Social Norms and Conformity,” discusses the role of gender, conformity, and deviance in today’s society. It first outlines how gender and one’s definition of it is socially constructed from the moment we are born. At birth, we are automatically bestowed with the status of belonging to a group; we are welcomed as a member into society and we are consequentially influenced by the beliefs, ideals, and social norms that that particular society holds. As the video highlights, Western society holds very different expectations for what constitutes being “female” and “male.”
The scientist conducted an experiment where fifty men would go and take a vision test using a line judgment task. During the experiment there was a group of about eight people and out of those eight, only one of them is actually being tested. Everybody else was called the confederates’ ad they would be the ones choosing the same answer so we can see if that person falls into conformity and chooses the same answer as the whole group, even though it was wrong. The results were extraordinary. They went on for eight-teen trials and for twelve of the trials, the confederates said the wrong answer.
Our text defines conformity as “going along with the crowd” page 318. I believe we conform and obey because depending on how we were raised that’s all we know. Most of us as kids were told that we must respect and obey in order to gain trust. “Trust is another vital part of prosocial behavior among humans” page 318 For example, I conform and obey because I was raised with the principles that we must respect others and elders if we want the same type of respect back. Some people on the other hand might conform because of social norms. “People conform to the behavior of others more, and in general conform to social norms more, when others are watching” page 318 A prosocial behavior is defined in our text book as something that is good for a society
The Asch experiment was an experiment were multiple people were shown line that were supposed to be straight and even all at once, only one person is the actual participant everyone else was an actor. Asch recorded the number of times each participant conformed to the majority view. Asch put a naive participant in a room with seven actors. The actors had agreed in advance what their responses would be when presented with the line task. The real participant did not know this and thought that the others were also real participants like themselves. The results, on average about one third (32%) of the participants who were placed in this situation and conformed to the clearly incorrect answer in the test. Out of the 12 trials that took place about 75% of participants conformed at least once and 25% of participant never
We see conformity, compliance, and obedience in action on a day to day basis. These three categories are manifested in our own homes, our workplace, at school, and just about any kind of setting that we find ourselves in. Conformity aims to gain approval from those around us, so an example of this would be if people were talking about the latest fashion trend and this girl, even though she does not really have a clue about it, tries to jump into the conversation and starts making up stories just so
People have been changing their behavior or obeying someone else’s commands for years. This continues today in our everyday lives. Conformity and obedience seem similar but differ in several ways. Conformity is defined by psychologists as a change in behavior or belief to accord with others. Similar to this, is obedience. Obedience is defined acting in accordance with a direct order or command. Normally people conform to reap a reward or to avoid punishment. If we comply with a direct order or command it is considered obedience. Most of the time when people comply, it is to be accepted among others so they are not seen as outsiders. On the other hand, when we obey, we are obeying a command an authority figure
The Asch Experiment was conducted in the 1950’s by Solomon Asch. It was an experiment created to examine the individuality and judgement of a perfectly normal person that was influence by peer pressure to conform to unusual behavior by other figures or opinions around them. For this experiment, Asch had eight participants sit with a seating plan that was created to sit around a table. Out of the eight participant there was only one participant that was the real subject for this experiment, and the other was confederates who was coached to give certain answers and they was also used to place peer pressure on the real subject of this experiment. They was all asked to answer a chain of questions that asked which line was the longest or which line matched the mention line. The participant and the confederates would answer a question correctly, but then the confederates indicate an opinion right before the participant answered causing the participant to answer incorrectly also. With the answers of each participant and how they would change because of the influence of peer pressure each participant was given at first correct answers, followed by a range of correct answers with some incorrect answers showed Asch how peer pressure from other people could make a person conform even after knowing that everyone else is wrong
In 1951, Solomon Asch conducted his famous conformity experiment. Asch’s experiment consisted of 50 male students from Swarthmore College in the USA, who were informed they were participating in a ‘vision test’. These participants were then put in a room with several ‘Confederates’, who were not subjects in the experiment. All participants were shown a ‘target line’, who were told to then state out loud which comparison line was most like the target line. The Confederates had all previously agreed to state the wrong answer. This method effectively exposed if the subject would base their beliefs upon their own judgment, or conform to the answer of the group. The results
Based on all the previously referred material, conformity is totally driven by social norms, norms that are not written but sometimes are more powerful than law; the way that a person conforms to society affects the level and type of his compliance to society’s requests. For example, if a person has as personal characteristic not to like altering his self-image/ presentation based on society’s preferences due to his intense belief in independence, it is possible that this person will comply more difficult because of external motivation instead of internal. On the other hand, this means that if a person has an internal compliance only to smile to people who knows and not to