The Effect of Invention and Innovation on Conformism

Conformity is a concept that has been heavily researched in the field of social psychology. Conformity is defined as a change in behavior, beliefs, and attitudes due to group pressure perceived as real (encompassing the presence of others) or imagined (encompassing the pressure of social standards) (Myers, 2010, p. 192). The concept of conformity is a powerful influence on the tendency for people to arrange their thoughts, perspectives, and ideas with others, especially when in a group. This takes away from a person’s individuality because they want to feel accepted by others and therefore, a person will accomplish this basic need of approval through conforming.

As readers, we see how the analysis of conflictive themes has been taking over literature scenarios. When reading between the lines of certain books we can perceive themes such as conformity and rebellion. Mostly these themes can be seen in writings from times of social upheaval. According to The Oxford Dictionary, the word conformity means “behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards”, while rebellion means “the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention.” These terms create a constant battle among societies. A certain amount of conformity needs to exist in life in order to avoid disorder. This is the reason society has laws, rules and expectations. Literature represents life, and these themes can be found at the root of many literary works. Conformity can also be considered as silence. This silence is based on the restrictions of real feelings and thoughts in some literary pieces. During the sixteenth century, the emphasis on conformity was at its height. Works of literature from this time period have often reflected a fascination and frustration with this particular characteristic. People do not want to be restricted in terms of expressing opinions and developing certain activities. When facing oppression, denial of their freedom, they rebel, and that contributes to the part of the process of change in society. Not all kinds of rebellions are rationally fundamental, but when they are, it can transform society for the

Conformity and Its Meaning This assignment focuses upon conformity and what it means to us. Conformity is defined by Zimbardo (1992) as "A tendency for people to adopt behaviour, values and attitudes of other members of a reference group". Why people conform is a topic of much debate.

I formally agree with most of what Feys conveys as his ideas of conformity and why in our society it is a big deal of whether or not people should conform by the will of others. Feys main argument against the normality of conformity is when he states, “ Living in society, we are under constant pressure to surrender our individuality to the will of the majority.” Most people of society have agreed to this statement without replying to this direct comment but everyone knows the idea of peer-pressure in which an individual is emotionally pushed to do something that was not wanted of them. We see the issues of peer pressure in a number of places, for example, in a study by Thomas J Berndt a professor of developmental psychology conducted an experiment

This paper addresses the controversies surrounding technological singularity, whether it is a possibility in the future or simply an overly ambitious/grandiloquent idea/fiction. The topic has been a household debate specially since the recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (i.e. Google’s prototype for driverless cars). On one hand, Artificial Intelligence (AI) enthusiasts and optimists suggest that technological singularity (TS) is inevitable, owing to the emulation of the human mind. They also credit the ‘exponential growth’ of progress in this field to be a key factor. While on the other hand, there are skeptics, that argue that this progress has its limits and will meet its end soon enough. They reason that emulating an extraordinarily

In George Bernard Shaw’s didactic, Victorian play Pygmalion, Linguistics Professor Henry Higgins’s perceptive ears are offended by the sound of Eliza’s lowly, Cockney accent, so he wishes to change it into a flawless, pleasant voice that would blend in among high society. Higgins is a sarcastic and rude character who treats Eliza badly throughout most of the play, sometimes not even acknowledging her presence. This brings up the question of why she tolerates his rudeness. What drove Eliza to change? Change is desired when we face conflicts that must be resolved. Another question this play presents is: What does it mean to be high class? Is it as Henry Higgins says it is, that it is just the proper way of speaking? Can the “right”

During the 1930’s, which was the early Victorian era in England, the culture and values of Pygmalion are set. During this period of time, the audience develops an insight into what the values and issues through what impacts the characters in the play. There is a definite upper and lower class; Eliza Doolittle, the protagonist, is lower class, near the bottom of the social hierarchy. Because Eliza is in the lower class at the beginning of the play, her social class impacts the way other classes interact with her, in this case, how the upper or middle class perceives her. At the beginning of the play, an upper class scene is created as wealthy people exit the theatre and search for taxis, Eliza hurries about trying to sell flowers. When Eliza’s asks the Eynsford-Hill’s to buy

The term ambition is almost always considered as a negative characteristic. Being ambitious seems to be linked to greed and a more similar meaning to being a non-conformist is left aside, something that may be very necessary and act as the engine of a business activity. Because ambition is not only restricted to the desire to accumulate wealth or power, it can be found in the desire to be better every day, to seek new challenges and fight for them, without having to trample others or not have scruples to reach your goals.

Your post made me flash back to my first day at new job. I walked into that office feeling timid yet determined to prove my worth. I was so concerned I’d fail. I didn’t want management second guessing their decision to hire me. Would I be a quick enough study? Would my performance meet their expectations? Would I fit into the office culture? Starting a new job is stressful.

Pygmalion, written by George Bernard Shaw, is well known for its portrayal of the rich and the poor. At the time of its publication, it was common belief that the poor were morally inferior to the rich. Pygmalion argues the opposite. Bernard Shaw used both static and dynamic characters to demonstrate the equality between the social classes regarding morals and intelligence. In the case of Eliza Doolittle, the differences are seen as she transitions from poverty to the middle class. In Pygmalion, she is shown to be a dynamic character, undergoing many changes of personal strength, articulation, and freedom.

Ernst Fischer believes that literature “always transcends the ideological limits of its time, yielding us insight into the realities which ideology hides from view” (Eagleton 8). This is mostly true because, I argue, literature per se tries to convey individual ideologies, while it tries to push beyond the limits of the dominant ideology in order for us to see more about the realities; however, we cannot really see the realities through literature, because different human ideologies, often contained in literature, are themselves produced by limited understandings. According to Marx, the word “ideology” signifies “the way men live out their roles in class-society, the values, ideas and images which tie them to their social functions and so prevent them from a true knowledge of society as a whole,” so in other words, an ideology is tightly connected to certain men’s limited perceptions when they play certain roles in the society (Eagleton 8). It is the same for literature— it is not possible for authors to consider every aspect of the society and directly write out the realities, even though they might have observed more than other people have done. After all, the authors are a genre of men, whose obtain their perceptions through their own eyes, not through some sudden divine enlightenments of truth. Moreover, the writers are themselves in the industry of literature, playing

Fundamentally, so long as individuals are conditioned to become content with their spot in society, they will never rebel. Furthermore, since the government does such an effective job at making it impossible for individuals even imagine any other possible quality of life, they see whatever inequality they face simply as a necessary “price of civilization” (Orwell 212). Moreover, as made evident by the proletarian and Epsilon classes in 1984 and Brave New World “a large class of the people do not want to be cultured and are not interested in the higher life. For these people existence on the lower, animal levels is perfectly satisfactory. Given food, drink, the company of their fellows, sexual enjoyment, and plenty of noisy distractions from without, they are happy,” (Varricchio) and are therefore accepting of their “unescapable social destiny” (Huxley 26). What’s more, because the masses are so conditioned to accept their positions in society, they are also inclined to feel uncomfortable with and take preventative measures against disobeying the system.

Conformity refers to an individuals behaviour in presence of behaviour patters of a particular group. The Power of Conformity, the conducted study of 1955 by Asch, S.E theorized a person’s behaviour can be manipulated by a groups pressure to conform, considering conformity is heavily weighed influence to individuals behaviour. His method included placing one in a room of seven other supposed subjects (these “subjects” were really confederates) to answer which line (A,B or C) is the same length as the standard line thats on another sheet of paper. All confederates are asked before the actual subject. The first round all chose the correct and very evident answer, however in the next round, the seven confederates chose the same wrong line. This then places the subject under the spotlight whether to give into conformity or not. Results of the read approximately 75% went with the group’s consensus at least once. In addition to about one-third of subjects agreeing on

Pygmalion, by Bernard Shaw, uses and modifies common romantic structure to enhance the depth of its heroine, Eliza Doolittle. Like a common con-artist, however, Shaw switches the bait with a jarring look at modern sexism and the women’s dependency on a man, even if she is more qualified then he. Shaw’s withdrawal from the expected conclusion of a romantic marriage reshapes critics’ view of Eliza, releasing her from her expected submissive “social role” as a wife, and redefining her as a strong woman. Even with her new representation, however, she is still left in a sexist society, and continues to rely on the bachelors of Wimpole Street for financial support and advice. She goes as far as she can, under the present circumstances, to free herself from the patriarchal society that oppresses and ridicules her very existence.

Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs and behaviours to group norms. Factors that has an effect on conformity can be culture, age, gender or larger group size. Zimbardo, Johnson, & Hamilton (2014) explained that culture includes language, beliefs, customs, values and traditions. They mentioned that the social and cultural situation in which the person is rooted to can sometimes be the strongest factor that influences behaviour. For example, some culture places importance on punctuality which in turn influences behaviour, such as procrastination or lack of thereof. Indeed, one of the psychology perspective that psychologists focus on is sociocultural perspective, whereby social and cross-cultural psychologists have been studying how these social processes differ from one culture to another.