Margaret Mead said “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like

everyone else (Mead).” As Westerners, we know that we are free to do as we choose and we

sincerely do not like when someone tells us otherwise. What happens when we are faced with

a situation where a group is telling us that what we know to be correct is, in fact, incorrect? As

much as we believe that we are a free and independent people, British author Doris Lessing’s

speech tells a different story. Lessing states that we “are now in possession of a great deal of

hard information about ourselves, but we do not use it to improve our institutions and therefore

our lives (Lessing).”

Lessing spoke in 1985 about Western humans and how we perceive ourselves. She

believes that Westerners are very educated and have a very high sense of self. Westerners go

through life rarely questioning what others tell us, instead just accepting it as absolute truth.

Americans especially are very prone to social pressures and feel significant pressure to conform.

In the age of Facebook and Twitter, many adolescents feel an enormous amount of pressure from

friends and social media about what they should look like, what they should be wearing, what

music they should be listening to. Adults are no exception. Adults are pressured all through their

lives that they should go to college, get married, and have children. Even if this is not something

an individual wishes for themselves, they will more than likely conform because they want to

appease their friends or their families, or they simply feel that society expected that of them.

Lessing points out that while in a group setting, most individuals will quickly cast aside

their individuality to go along with the crowd if their opinions are different than that of the

majority. Westerners feel a very strong need to fit in and be accepted. Though the sense of self is

significant, the drive to appease others and appear main stream will take precedence over being

an individual most of the time. As most Westerners are perpetually part of some sort of group,

whether it’s a family, church, or political, we will hold our own personal beliefs, but will quickly

abandon them as soon as someone suggests that they disagree with us.

When individuals were placed in a room for an experiment, one or two people remain

ignorant of the experiment. When these one or two individuals were given a certain ‘truth’ but

were told that truth was incorrect by the majority, more often than not they will give up what

they know to be true to fit into the group thinking. Lessing challenges us to think critically

about whether we would give in to the group majority asking “Would you?” She is correct in

her assumptions that while most people say that they would hold onto their values and beliefs,

when pressured by a group they would most always conform to appease the majority. She is

also correct with her statement "Right. This is what we must expect under this and that set of

conditions (Lessing)." An American television show called “What Would You Do?” illustrates

Lessing’s points beautifully by acting out various scenarios around unsuspecting people to see

how they would react. While most of us would say “Yes, I would speak up or intervene if I heard

someone call someone else a vulgar name,” when faced with an actual situation where someone

is being harassed, we will turn a blind eye and stay silent because we don’t want to upset

someone who we believe thinks that behavior is okay.

Being Americans, we have the freedom to lead our lives as we see fit. Though we are

easily swayed by outside influences, we still retain our right to keep our own opinions and

judgments. Perhaps Lessing is correct that even though we hold the key to improve ourselves,

but in the end, it will ultimately be up to each individual to decide whether to follow the crowd

or remain an individual, just like everybody else.

Lessing, Doris. Group Minds. 1985.Mead, Margaret. BrainyQuote. 2012. 19 06 2012.