Why People Conform

The article “Social Influence on Risk Perception during Adolescence” by Lisa j. Knoll, Lucia Magis-Weinberg, Maarten Speekenbrink, and Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, explores the relationship between social influence and risk taking. The authors acknowledge that adolescence is a time in life where risk taking is more likely to occur with peers than alone. However it is not just adolescence that are victims of peer pressure. People of all ages are constantly making decisions about whether they should take such risks. But what makes people take the risk? The article say that “adolescences are unaware of potential risks and feel invulnerable”. However that does not explain why they are more likely to engage

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 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.

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

Because humans crave attention of others, they live their life and conform to whatever the majority of the people around them says. Asch’s Conformity Experiment, which was when they hired eight actors and one test subject and gave them all a test and told the eight actors to say the wrong answer, they found that the test subject would usually conform to the majority vote even if it was wrong. This showed us that people would usually conform to the majority answer on a test, even if it was wrong. Even in high school, students conform to make themselves look cool and conform to things even if they know it’s wrong. Asch’s experiment and american high schools prove to us that humans don’t want to stand out and we just want to fit in and get attention.

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth"~– John F. Kennedy. For many years young adults have been pressured to do things that they might not want to go through, even though the situation might be harmful to them or others. However they go through with it anyway because they feel the need to fit in with their peers. Conformity is defined as the change in behavior that arises from social influences that may be put on one in different situations, in order to fit in with a certain group. Although people may indulge with people who encourage good behaviors, but it usually ends with kids being encouraged to act with inhuman and savage actions.

Why do we conform? Two basic sources of influence: normative social influence, the need to be liked, accepted by others and Informational influence: need to be correct and to behave in accordance with reality.

Conformity can happen to anyone; however, certain groups and individuals tend to be more susceptible to conformity than others.

People don't always conform for the same reason's, in 1958 Kelman identified three main forms of conformity, each of which could produce conforming behaviour but in different ways. The first of these and the most superficial is Compliance: Going along with the majority in order to avoid rejection or in order to gain rewards such as social acceptance or approval. The distinguishing feature of compliance

Since the modern era, a major limitation of society remains: the obsession of one’s appearances, and the subsequent alienation of those perceived to not fit the ideal. The general media unceasingly promotes the thin ideal, spawns a multi-billion dollar diet industry, and permeates major aspects of society, such as the medical community. The hatred for one’s appearance is entirely a social construct perpetuated by the media. More importantly, the ideal has alienated those perceived to be outside of it, which is the majority of the U.S. population. The conformity stifles individualism on various levels. America was made great because of its diversity, which is now threatened by pressures to conform. It encompasses all aspects of life, even

There are two types of groups when it comes to peer pressure. There is a group that causes peer pressure and pressures others to submit to their ideas; and there is the group that submits into the peer pressure to ‘fit in’. The second one is the group that conforms. This is detrimental because a team of psychologists found in a study that “young people are more likely to misbehave and take risks when their friends are watching” (Source E 1). This study consisted of a “six minute driving game” and they had to reach the destination before a certain time in order to receive an award. The only thing keeping the players from reaching their destination was yellow traffic lights. If they went too slow they would not reach the destination in the time given, if they went too fast then there was a “higher risk of crashing” (Source E 1). Peer pressure takes a role in this because when told that two friends “were watching the play in the next room” the teenagers had “60 percent more crashes” (Source E 1). This is an example of unintentional peer pressure because that friends group had the influence to make the teenager speed in the game. This also exemplifies the act of conforming because the teenagers raced through the light in order to reach the destination faster and receive a “bigger prize” and look cool to their friends (Source E 1). Peer pressure is detrimental to society because if teenager were to get behind the wheel

Americans today tend to believe that Conformity can not lead to consequences and that is not true Conformity is a giant risk to take or do. Just like Truman stated “Modern life is confusing, so sometimes our vision is blurred” by that he means that we don't always do what we are supposed to, we kind of just follow. Following is what they and by they I mean we think is fitting in but it usually it is noted most of the time you could get hurt or lost maybe it could even cause death. It is often said that conformity is normal but how do we no non conformist aren't the actual conformist. Conformity can be peer pressure and no one likes the malice feeling to that but it could really ruin your life.

This is a tough question to answer. As a human being, we all try to conform to the social norms. We do not want to be different because when we are different, loneliness and judgement will creep on our door. We live in a society full of discriminations and judgement. It takes a lot of guts and courage for someone to stand up challenge the social system. The fact that one is standing by oneself against millions of people is just frightening.

This quote shows that we must not be imitators and that conformity is bad. We need to be our own person and not let others make our decisions for us. If we do what everyone has always done, we don't give our soul a chance to be great. Have your own ideals and work for yourself and not others. It’s also foolish to be jealous and you will end up killing yourself trying to conform to the status quo. I chose this quote because I completely agree that jealousy is a waste of time and energy. You should always be yourself no matter what. This quote also appealed to me because I believe that it completely defies the status quo and promotes individually.