Hayakawa Conformity

In the article ‘Who’s Crazy Here, Anyway?’, Rosenhan’s reason for research was because Rosenhan doubted whether the characteristics that lead to psychological diagnoses reside in the patients themselves or in the situations and contexts in which the observers find the patients. The hypothesis generated by Rosenhan was, that the staff will recognize the sanity of the patients, question their diagnosis and follow to release them. The objective was to observe whether personal or environmental factors dictate mental health diagnosis and professional treatment. Rosenhan recruited eight subjects which consisted of three women and five men, one graduate student, three psychologists, one pediatrician, one psychiatrist, one painter, and one homemaker.

The author, Logan Feys in his article, ¨The Sociology of Leopard Man¨, discusses the topic of society and being a nonconformist. He claims that people should be psychologically free and strong enough to live independently, leaving society and entering society on their own terms. He supports his claim by first comparing abnormal people and ¨normal¨ people. For example, in the article he states, “Plenty of weird people do have serious mental problems. But so do plenty of ¨normal¨ people.¨ (Feys 1). He then goes on to explain the dangers of conforming to society. ¨Conformity can be seen as the world's most common but dangerous psychological disorder. Living in society, we are under constant pressure to surrender our individuality to the will of

this thinking has been perverted by the propagation of ideas about contagion, dangerous, unpredictability, and lack of willpower, which are at the core of today’s prejudices against mental patients. (Guiman, pp. 21-22)

The question of what it means to be labelled ‘psychologically abnormal’ is examined closely in Rosenhans study of ‘On Being Sane in Insane Places’. This study highlights the usefulness and consequences of being diagnostically labelled.

In the poem “Much Madness is Divinest Sense”, By Emily Dickinson talks about the two kinds of people that excises in society. The poem start with the person’s “Madness”, Dickinson says “Much Madness is divinest Sense-To a discerning Eye” this means that a person may look like they don’t know what they are talking about or they have a different opinion than the rest of society. In society now a days if you have a different opinion on something or say something is good or bad, people may look at you different. Not everyone thinks the same, every single person has his or hers little world in their head that is complexly different than others. Lot of people that I personally know have change their idea or the way they think just because society

People with mental health issues have been viewed and treated in a variety of ways within western society throughout time. Historically if an individual displayed behaviours which disrupted their function in society and defied social norms they were viewed as lunatics, insane or even cursed (Cowan, 2008; Elder & Evans & Nizette, 2009). It is from these past issues that many people still have unreasonable thoughts about mental illness; their misconceptions have created unreasonable fears and negative attitudes toward those who experience it. This negativity brings for many the barriers of not only

Sanity is subjective. Every individual is insane to another; however it is the people who possess the greatest self-restraint that prosper in acting “normal”. This is achieved by thrusting the title of insanity onto others who may be unlike oneself, although in reality, are simply non-conforming, as opposed to insane. In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, this fine line between sanity and insanity is explored to great lengths. Through the unveiling of Susanna’s past, the reasoning behind her commitment to McLean Hospital for the mentally ill, and varying definitions of the diagnosis that Susanna received, it is evident that social non-conformity is often confused with insanity.

Mental illness becomes a bigger issue with a long lasting cultural stereotyped due to the manner in which it has long been labelled (Miles, 1988). Although mental illness is very much connected to instabilities in one’s mental health state, as previously mentioned, a person can be mentally healthy but still suffer from a mental illness. What is understood by mental illness is that it

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.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, sanity is “the condition of having a healthy mind [or] the condition of being based on reason or good judgement” (Merriam-Webster). Using this definition, the question to address would then be what constitutes having a healthy mind? Some people believe that in order to be seen as having this you have to be “normal”. For some this term is the “equivalent of [being] oblivious and you [are] ‘abnormal’ when you [are] sentient, human, and real” (Maisel, 2011). This concept of what is normal and what is not is dependent upon how everyone in the society around them acts. Therefore, someone who is not deemed as being “normal” cannot be seen as having a healthy mind and having a good sense of judgement because they are too perceptive to the world around them. In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and Harlan Ellison’s “ ‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” the principal characters are ostracized by the society’s they live in for this very reason. Being that both of the characters are mindful enough to rebel against what society expects of them, they can be perceived as exhibiting a form of “divinest sense”.

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).

Over time, social norms and collective standards have lessened in value. In modern society, diversity and self-identity are seen as more desirable as opposed to fitting a particular mould that is defined by what is normal. Although, looking back about fifty years, this wasn’t the case. The societal focus was more directed towards an overall collective standard. Often times, when an individual felt as if they abnormal when compared to the average person in society, they simply accepted it and seeked refuge in an institution such as a mental institution. In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, many of the patients in the mental institution were staying voluntarily due to the overwhelming pressure radiating from society outside the asylum. This external pressure from their ”inability to adjust to society,”(pg 167) took a toll on their self-perception, convincing themselves that treatment was required. Those who are perceived as being a leader have a strong influence on others and can alter the self-perception of many individuals; Kesey shows the patients using this new self-perception to seek social conformity. Once the self confidence of an individual has diminished, the introduction of a new perspective can reverse these effects, build a sense of self-acceptance and, therefore, introduce a cure.

Throughout history people who have a mental health illness are not accepted in society. The attitudes of people in society, for example the workplace, is an important measure of the success of that society. Segregating people with mental illnesses from society, by putting someone in a institute, contributed to the attitude that an individual with mental illness are not capable of participating or contributing in society. These negative stereotypes are often portrayed in media, and influence the stigma of mental health illness being dangerous. This controversial concept of dangerousness states that individuals with a mental illness are more dangerous than those without a mental illness. Various forms of discrimination and exclusion in society is still present today. If society begins to understand mental illness, then they will judge a lot less. Success in that society will come when society accepts other people who are different

“the tendency of people to conform help Society function smoothly in many ways... For example, enable Safe Transportation” this quote shows that Conformity can be helpful/good.

The social model of mental illness emphasizes the social environment and the roles people play. Thomas Scheff maintains that people diagnosed as mentally ill are victims of the status quo, guilty of often unnamed violations of social norms; thus the label "mental illness" can be used as an instrument of social control. I agree with Scheff's analysis, and I strongly concur with the view Thomas Szasz takes on the notion of mental illness. Szasz argues that much of what we call "mental illness" is a myth; it is not an illness, but simply "problems in living", troubles caused by conflicting personal needs, opinions, social aspirations, values, and so forth (Szasz 13). It thus follows that the widely