...The biggest idea Emmerson stresses in “Self-Reliance” is you are only good if you live in a world of people who live this way, because they are taught that way yet you stood your ground, and you follow what you believe in. He encourages everyone to be their own individual. Emmerson states nonconformity is to stand for what you believe in and against what is being established. Emmerson writes, “For non-conformity the world whips you with its displeasure” (para.11). Here, he is trying to convey if you do not act or do what common cultures do, then your time living will be much harder than someone who does, mentally and/or physically. It is harder to be a non – conformist, and it is often not expressed. Often times, more people blindly follow...
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...[pic] Definition “Conformity is a type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes, beliefs or behaviours to adhere to existing social norms” Baron et al, 2006 Explanation of social norms (you must learn this for small mark answer) ➢ Social norms are one of the key causes of why people conform to the majority view. ➢ Social norms (group norms) are the standard rules of behaviour for individuals in any given society/culture. ➢ Unspoken rules develop spontaneously, unconsciously usually through force of habit and if you do not conform to these rules you will be excluded… ➢ For example, behaviour at a bus stop, the type of clothes that are popular, the type of drinks to be drinking, the type of music to listen to, the places to travel in the world Jenness (1932) The first informal experimental study of conformity where participants were asked to estimate how many beans the bottle contained. When asked for a group estimate they almost all changed their individual guesses closer to the group estimate. This persisted when asked again individually. They conformed. NB: Remember for every study in this topic and obedience try to give a methodological and ethical issue (or advantage) for each study |Methodological issues |Ethical issues | | ...
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...attend school and adults work; these are examples of conformity for obvious reasons; society is based on rules that keep our society functioning, if there were no rules then our entire structure would break down. The question of this thesis is to investigate why individuals give in to less important reasons to conform. Why do a group of teenagers prefer to wear one brand of clothing over another, why do teenagers judge others for their choice of clothes, electronics, and hairstyles? Why do adults feel the need to live in certain areas over others, why do they find fulfillment in the type of car they drive? For decades, advertisers have portrayed a happy and successful lifestyle by using images of consumption. We are told that to measure our success in life we must use status symbols of designer clothes, cars, jewelry and our choice of neighborhoods and homes. Americans have been seduced into the belief that without designer labels and expensive electronics, our lives are not complete and that we are not truly fulfilled. Through advertising, consumers are persuaded to base purchases not on need or want but as a way to show others that they are happy, healthy, and successful and to show their prestige. People want others to acknowledge their prestige (Henslin 2010) and conformity is the tendency of an individual to change their thinking and behavior to the social norms to garner respect. The most apparent effect of conformity is shown in fashion and style. I wonder about whether...
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...Page 4 Methods Page 5 Results Page 6 Discussion Page 9 Conclusion Page 11 References/Bibliography Page 12 Introduction Are our behaviours and actions individual decisions based on our own thoughts and opinions? Or are they influenced some way, and if so by who or what? There have been many studies by psychologists such as Jennes (1932), Asch (1951) and Kelman (1958) on conformity and have largely resulted in the same argument. People conform to a majority influence. Deutch and Gerrard (1955) suggest that there are two reasons that we as individuals conform. Normative Social Influence (NSI) argues that the desire to 'fit in' and 'be liked' and not to be rejected influences us to conform to the majority, Informational Social Influence (ISI), argues that the desire to be correct and the lack of knowledge in an unclear situation influences us to be guided by those around us who have a greater knowledge. Taking NSI and ISI into consideration the, aim of this study is to conclude if social and group pressures play a part in conformity and obedience. Today's society suggests students are not even aware that they are...
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...Journal of Consumer Behaviour, J. Consumer Behav. 11: 467–476 (2012) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/cb.1396 If I want you to like me, should I be like you or unlike you? The effect of prior positive interaction with the group on conformity and distinctiveness in consumer decision making VERONIKA PAPYRINA* College of Business, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA ABSTRACT The extant research points to conflicting results regarding social influence in consumer decision making. On the one hand, there is empirical evidence that suggests that people conform to other members of their groups. On the other hand, several studies demonstrated the opposite pattern, namely, that individuals seek distinctiveness from others in the group. The goal of the present research is to reconcile these contradictory findings. To this end, I propose that whether a person will conform to or seek distinctiveness from others in a particular consumption situation is contingent on the absence or presence of one’s prior positive interaction with the group. I also suggest that this effect will occur in a public context, that is, when an individual’s choice is visible to other group members. The results of experiment supported these propositions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Suppose Alice wants to start figure skating and goes to watch a training session conducted by a local skate club before making the final decision. She likes what...
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...How can we explain conformity? Draw on at least two examples Scott and Marshall (2005) explain conformity with people’s attempts on complying with other’s norms and rules in order to fulfill their expectations. But is it really that simple? Conformity is one of these terms in sociology that have too much different tones and shades, and thus requires deep examination. This essay looks at in detail at a number of classical studies on the subject of conformity as well as it analyzes a particular type of conformity, i.e. gender conformity. Examples and case studies given from both academic experiments and everyday life help this essay in arguing that conformity is a complex process happening to all of us most of the time even without our knowledge. Moreover, this essay provides information about why people actually conform. Every person is an individual. However, every person belongs to a group. The nationality of a person, their sex, their age, the colour of their skin, and even their hobbies are all different kinds of groups to which this person belongs to. Group membership helps building a type of social identity, while applying its norms and rules upon the individual (Brown 2000). Moreover, even in cases in which a clear hierarchy and roles are absent because of the instant development of the group, social influence remains existent. Social influence definition given by Allport (1968) is as it follows, ‘an attempt to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and...
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...To Conform Or To Not Conform To truly understand anything (articles, books, etc.) about conformity and nonconformity you first must understand what the two terms actually mean. To “conform” or to be a “conformist like Clover in Animal Farm” means to do the societal norm or to be doing things similar to what everyone else is doing. It’s similar to bandwagon propaganda, which tries to get the intended audience to do things that everyone is doing by using celebrities, motivational speakers, and even local celebrities. It’s basically like following the latest trends or just simply complying with laws and rules of where you live. To not conform or to be a “nonconformist like Martin Luther King” has a pretty similar concept but is totally different. To not conform means to do things different than what is considered normal or average. It’s also the failure to comply with rules, regulations, or in some cases laws....
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...According to Leon Mann, conformity means "yielding to group pressures". Everyone is a member of one group oranother and everyone expects members of these groups to behave in certain ways. If you are a member of an identifiable group you are expected to behave appropriately to it. If you don"t confirm and behave appropriately you are likely to be rejected by the group. Like stereotypes, conforming and expecting others to conform maintains cognitive balance. There are several kinds of conformity. Many studies of conformity took place in the 1950"s which led Kelman to distinguish between compliance, internalisation and identification. Compliance is the type of conformity where the subject goes along with the group view, but privately disagrees with it. Internalisation is where the subject comes to accept, and eventually believes in the group view. Identification is where the subject accepts and believes the group view, because he or she wants to become associated with the group. Leon Mann identifies normative conformity which occurs when direct group pressure forces the individual to yield under the threat of rejection or the promise of reward. This can occur only if someone wants to be a member of the group or the groups attitudes or behaviour are important to the individual in some way. Apart from normative conformity there is informational conformity which occurs where the situation is vague or ambiguous and because the person is uncertain he or...
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...following research personal derives from Solomon Asch's conformity study. The study reflects how human subjects conform to the majority social influence of their peers. The study design was in a controlled laboratory experiment. The following proposal is to determine if subjects will decrease or increase the level of conformity outside a controlled environment. Psychology in Action Part V There are benefits of a controlled laboratory experiment which researches control the variables such as Asch's Opinions and Social Pressures study. The study does have further questions and follow-up studies to determine the magnitude of conformity as a social phenomenon. The social phenomenon of group conformity in a controlled environment has provided further issues to examine. Even though conformity may not increase outside a controlled environment, subjects may conform more outside a controlled environment because subjects conform easily inside a controlled environment. Research Proposal To: From: Date: Subject: Research proposal Research Question: Will subjects be more willing to conformity outside a controlled environment? Thesis: Even though conformity may not increase outside of a controlled environment, subjects may conform more outside a controlled environment because subjects conform easily inside a controlled environment. Proposed Research Topic: Will subjects be more willing to conformity outside a controlled environment? Purposes Asch...
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...The Power of Conformity 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 conformity was first studied in the 1950s by Solomon Asch. His experiments were very important to the study of conformity. Asch wanted to find out how conformity could influence behavior. He did not want to focus on the general concepts like ethics, morals, attitudes, and belief systems. Instead, he focused on a more obvious concept which was perceptional conformity. Since he performed the experiment on a simple task, he was able to study conformity in a controlled environment. Asch wanted to apply group pressure to the experiment so he could manipulate a person’s behavior. For the experiment, he made three pairs of cards with three different lengths of vertical lines on one side. On the other side, there was a single line that was the same length ... Conformity and Obedience in Society...
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...Outline and evaluate two explanations of conformity. Normative social influence is a type of conformity compliance, where people behave in a way in which the majority are. This is where a large majority of people are able to indirectly control other people by making it difficult to oppose their views or opinions, thus making the minority feel pressured into complying. Although it may not change the minority’s opinions, some still conform to avoid social judgement and rejection of a large group. Asch’s study “Research into Majority Influence” (1996) clearly showed that 36.8% of the responses in 12 critical trials were incorrect due to the participants conforming under the pressure of 5 other confederates. This showed that humans have a tendency to fall under social pressure and conform to beliefs (their public beliefs, not their private) that they themselves do not believe. Informational social influence is similar to normative although the participants in Asch’s study were found to change their public and private beliefs, an example of internalisation. Informational social influence is most likely seen when the situation is unclear to the participant, where the situation is of great importance that occurs quickly so rapid decision making is needed and where the participant is to believe an expert’s opinion – where humans are more likely to believe someone that knows what to do or say. Wittenbrink and Henly’s (1996) found that when participants were exposed to negativity toward...
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...Being persuaded by anyone is considerate obeying and closes concepts of the difference in fundamental. This persuasion between them is not on demand while obedience does. The results of the process are considered a social control; obedience is subtle of control than persuasion. We are mostly likely prone to conformity and obedience but there is a difference between the groups depending on the person’s values or culture roles. Conformation is a group that can bring a reward such as support or self-esteem as well as security while the other brings the total opposite. Disobeying can lead to consequences examples would be not winning no rewards. Many things can damage views cognitive when obedience and confirmation goes against the systems. The video Asch’s on You Tube shows people to conform even when they are truly not in the right. The study’s shows how people function in a group setting and how different mechanisms will try to avoid the negative consequences or their beliefs and being biases by their attitudes of what is really right. The studies shows different situations but neither group did conform; it did reflect on people’s traits and how we as people are totally different. As for how I feel about the situation I am against the order of punishing someone. I do question a person authority and they can be wrong in a lot of studies no matter how many they do. I do believe in a person culture and how it may influence a person to be obedient and how they may view the experiment...
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...when the girls and their brothers first arrive at the boarding school. Soon "They separate the boys and girls so the children would "become 'masculine' and 'feminine'" (Bem 598). Knowing no better, they act like wild rambunctious animals they are excited for their new lives in the foreign setting. Little do they know they will soon be stripped of their past identities, including their names and culture, because it is all utterly wrong within civilized society. Claudette states, "[s]he slapped on a nametag saying: HELLO MY NAME IS ____! 'Jeanette it is "' (Russell 239). Russell shows how all that the girls know is not proper in modern society. Sister Maria and Sister Josephine the nuns in charge of the girls represent religious and modern conformity in the story as well as the white steeple of St Lucy's. The second stage of the program is filled with depression and rebellion from the girls in their preteen transformation stage. The girls, Claudette states, "[m]ark [their] territory but to their dismay everyday their smell is eradicated" (Russell 270). The girls are still in a shell-shocked. state, missing their families and old life, knowing that if they return home they shall be happy, but their parents will be utterly disappointed in them. The girls fulfill their past desires by daydreaming of food and their families. The nuns soon begin to conform the girls in this case meaning an "explanatory principle that appears in commonsense theories of both intentional and natural phenomena"...
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...through his writing. One of the main themes in his piece is the idea of conformity. There are so many situations that people conform in, some of which include; trying to fit in, not knowing what is the right thing to do, and often time people conform due to fear. Fear is something that can cause you to make both good and bad decisions. In The Crucible, fear is one of the main reasons for conformity, there are many reasons for why this happens and all of those are explained in the play. While depending on the situation while conform, or choose not to conform, based on the conditions they are in. In some situations we will often accuse others of actions they did not do in order...
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...several social psychological concepts. The one concept that stood out to me the most during this time was our chapters and discussions about conformity. Conformity is when a person relents their own beliefs or actions to satisfy those surrounding them. In society, human beings feel forced to change their opinions and judgements in order to fit in and not be an outsider. This type of behavior can be seen in numerous environments from one’s own house hold to their everyday social life with friends. I recently started a show called Thirteen Reasons Why, which shows how conformity can end up ending a person’s life. Thirteen Reasons Why was the most captivating, brutally authentic show I have seen in a while. Within the shows context there was no alleviating, it was straightforward, unaltered and honest. It showed how student, especially high school students, societies struggle with their experiences during their time in and out of school. This show is surrounded by two High School students, Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker who inevitably committed suicide. However, before she died she recorded 13 tapes, connecting her death to thirteen different students that attend the same school. Hannah is certain to make sure that the thirteenth people know that she left behind an ally who plans to release the tapes if they do not follow as...
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