Society exists only as a mental concept.
-Oscar Wilde
Perception is everything, but what exactly is it? This psychological concept dictates how people view the world and their behavior while interacting with it. Perception is the foundation of society and is where social norms originated from. The idea of perspective is tremendously subjective due to the lack of standardization. How can you normalize something that individualistic and cannot be measured? Yet, everything revolves around perception. This single most fundamental notion drives personal development. Without, an individual perspective, a person becomes obsolete. In today’s society, the sense of individualism is being lost, hindering personal and cultural growth. The impact of
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During Halloween, a social experiment was done in order to study this phenomenon. To measure the concept, two bowls were placed in front of children; one full of money, the other of just candy. Multiple variables were tested to see how much candy the kids took and if they took the money, which they were told was off-limits. No matter what variable changed, the results were conclusive and revolved around the idea of cheating. People are more often to cheat when: in a group, anonymous, can copy someone else, or when responsibility can be defused (social loafing). (Cheating: Does Deindividuation Encourage It? - PsyBlog, 2010) This experiment can be applied to everyday life by showing how deindividualization occurs as second nature in humans. Rather than taking personal blame on faults, people were inherently taught to defuse the responsible onto others. Though not always permanent, this mindset can alter people’s perspective and affect how social norms are viewed. If done enough, temporary moments of deindividualization can turn to a concrete personality change.
Fear is what drives conformity. Fear of judgment. Fear of the unknown. Fear of redefining self-images. Conformity has one of the strongest influences on perception and cognitive processing. Individualism is bound by the chains of conformity, of which is created by societal norms. The concept of conformity forces deindividualization on people. In turn, it is destroying independent thought and hindering personal improvement and self-actualization. By conforming, one loses the ability to live up to their true
The most basic concept in social psychology is conformity. Conformity is the idea that behaviour or a belief is changed in order to follow, or conform, to what is considered the “norm.” One of the oldest experiments to support this notion was conducted in 1935 by Muzafer Sherif (Song, Ma, Wu, Li, 2012 p. 1366). There are two different types of
“Social conformity has been practiced in societies around the world since ancient times,” and the reason it is so effective is that humans have an inherent need to be accepted as part of a group (Sadat). Furthermore, Hossna Sadat reports that:
The definition of conformity is the compliance with social standards and laws in a particular culture, environment, society and time. If this occurs the individual changes their attitudes, beliefs or actions to align more holistically with those in the surrounding groups and environment, as a result of real or perceived group pressure. This is ultimately a direct result of the power which a group has over the individual. There are two types of conformity, normative conformity, and informational conformity. The motivation behind normative conformity is the desire to be liked and accepted in society. This is most widely known as peer pressure. For example, a student begins smoking because their peers
Mark Twain once said, “A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape.” This quote revolves around the idea of conformity. Conformity or collectivism is the tendency to align attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those around you. It's a powerful force that can take the form of overt social pressure or subtler unconscious influence. As much as people think of themselves as individuals, the fact is that we're driven to fit in, and that usually means going with the flow. The problem with conformity or collectivism is the loss of individuality.
As we grow up we are told to be individuals, but once we grow up we obey authority figures and change our beliefs to fit in with others. No matter what age we are we will always comply to a behavior or belief to fit in with a group different than ours or to be liked. We do not like to be judged or looked at as an outsider; this will remain the same in which ever situation we find ourselves in. Whether it be in a professional setting such as work or a social setting with friends. When thinking of conformity and obedience we mostly think of cults and prisons but it is not always the case.
According to Leon Mann, conformity means ‘yielding to group pressures’. Everyone is a member of one group or another 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.
Elliot Aronson (2012) provides a definition of conformity, two social psychological processes that underlie a conformity and cited examples of reasons why people conform in the book, The Social Animal. Aronson (2012) defines a conformity as “a change in a person’s behavior or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people” (p.19). In accordance with Aronson’s (2012) definition of conformity, people do conform owing to the social influence, which are two main social psychological processes: belonging and getting information.
Conformity is defined as the occurrence of people yielding to social pressures as a result of pressure from a group of their peers; when faced by the pressure to conform, people will alter their behaviour and actions to fit the norm demonstrated by their peers (Lilienfield et al., 2012). Conformity is studied so that is can be understood and used in society to facilitate positive outcomes, and help avoid situations where peoples’ predisposition to conform leads to negative consequences (Lilienfield et al., 2012). By understanding conformity and other social processes society as a whole is able to understand themselves better and motivates them to work on improving as a whole (Lilienfield et al., 2012).
The Downfalls of Conformity: Why Blindly Following the Crowd Can Lead to Detrimental Outcomes. As social beings, humans often seek guidance from others when working through situations, and this reliance on social influence plays a huge role in shaping decisions. Exploring this theory, particularly particularly the aspect of deindividualization/deindividualization, where individuals lose their sense identity and become susceptible to group norms, shows why people may follow the crowd. Whether driven by the desire to fit in or gain acceptance, social influence goes along with deindividualization, leading people to behave in ways they might not have alone, or groupthink.
Conformity, compliance and obedience are behavioural consequences of social influence (real or imagined social pressure) that occur in the presence of a group or other individuals (Elsenbroich & Xenitidou, 2012). Often these concepts are misinterpreted as being the same or even synonymous and while they do have similarities they are also very dissimilar. In social psychology conformity, compliance and obedience are distinct concepts that coincide due to their effect on behaviour in the presence of others. Pascual, Line Felonneau, Guéguen & Lafaille (2013) define conformity as an altering of behaviour and beliefs in an individual in order to reflect the behaviour and beliefs of the group that holds influence, though Myers (2014) emphasises that
Individuality and conformity both play a major role in society. No matter what it may be individuals will need to choose appropriately between conforming and acting individualistically about their situation. Individuality allows individuals to freely express themselves while conformity offers safety under the protection of other conformers. Both of these aspects are beneficial to many individuals and is a key to maintaining societal order; however, it is disastrous to have too much of either side of the spectrum. Therefore, there should be a balance between individuality and conformity because having too much of either side morally and physically harms components of society, such that it pressures and forces individuals to do tasks against their will, and causes individuals to think selfishly and worry solely about themselves.
Conformity is defined as the compliance with social standards and laws in a particular culture, environment, society and time. If this occurs the individual changes their attitudes, beliefs or actions to align more holistically with those in the surrounding groups and environment, as a result of real or perceived group pressure. This is ultimately a direct result of the power which a group has over the individual. There are two types of conformity, normative conformity, and informational conformity. Normative conformity is motivated by the desire to be liked and accepted in society. This is most widely known as peer pressure. For example, a student begins smoking because their peers are smoking,
The way that each individual interprets, retrieves, and responds to the information in the world that surrounds you is known as perception. It is a personal way of creating opinions about others and ourselves in everyday life and being able to recognize it under various conditions. Each person’s perceptions are used as a kind of filter that every piece of information has to pass through before it determines the effect that it has or will have on the person from the stimulus. It is convincing to believe that we create multiple perceptions about different situations and objects each day. Perceptions reflect our opinions in many ways. The quality of a person’s perceptions is very important and can affect the response that is given through different situations. Perception is often deceived as reality. “Through perception, people process information inputs into responses involving feelings and action.” (Schermerhorn, et al.; p. 3). Perception can be influenced by a person’s personality, values, or experiences which, in turn, can play little role in reality. People make sense of the world that they perceive because the visual system makes practical explanations of the information that the eyes pick up.
Homophobic people are denying giving hijras rights because the majority of hijras are sexually involved with men. Hijras make money by selling their bodies to men granting them anal and oral sex. With such little options on how to make money, they join sex houses in order to survive. Hijras have sex with men, other hijras and also practice many different forms of marriages including polygamy. Many people, especially straight men see the hijras acting and dressing like women as disrespectful. Acting like women and sleeping with men for money is absurd. G.Morris Carstairs calls them “an abomination in the sight of respectable people [because of] their shamelessness in parading their perversion before the public gaze….” (Nanda 49). Homophobic
On a daily basis, people are being influenced by the people around them, whether it is directly or indirectly. A person’s thoughts, feelings and actions can influence and be influenced by society. These social interactions provide enough opportunity for the presence of people to influence and change behavior, views, and attitudes of an individual. There are several forms of social influences, such as conformity, which I will be discussing. Why we conform has been a topic of considerable interest to social psychologists in particular such as he classic and well-known studies of Muzafer Sherif and Solomon Asch. In addition to researching why we conform, there’s also the question of whether conformity is good or bad.