Hazing Through Groupthink

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Hazing has become a dominant theme on college campuses, military installations, schools, and organizations across America today. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the long term consequences of the affect of hazing and to explain groupthink phenomenon. Firstly the term hazing should be defined to effectively evaluate these affects. West Virginia’s legal definition of hazing is
“any brutality of a physical nature…to include forced consumption of liquor, drugs or other substances, or any other forced physical activity which could adversely affect the physical health and safety of the individual…to include extreme mental stress, forced exclusion from social contact, forced conduct which could result in extreme embarrassment, or any other forced activity which could adversely affect the mental health or dignity of the individual…the implied or expressed consent or willingness of a person or persons to hazing shall not be a defense under this section.” (Allen, 2011)
Popular types of hazing include forced alcohol consumption, humiliation, running gauntlets, and forced sexual activity. While hazing through groupthink happens within many avenues, the focal point will be college campuses across America. The perplexing reality is that college fraternities haze new members in various forms of condoned behavior where if found in another setting would be considered criminal.
Therefore the question is why one setting would differ from another in reference to hazing and apparent criminal conduct. One theory suggests that people tend to go along with the majority out of fear of being excluded. This is referred to as the normative social Influence. The normative social influence is a social theory that suggests that when part ...

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...etrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/cornell-hazing-victims-family-files-25-million-lawsuit/story?id=13948311

Crimesider, Staff. (2012). Northern Illinois University Fraternity Death. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57559738-504083/northern-illinois-university-fraternity-death-22-fraternity-members-charged-in-students-hazing-death-police-say/.

Crisp, R. J., & Turner, R. N. (2010). Essential social psychology. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Glovin, D. (2013, July 24). Mother of golf prodigy in hazing death defied by fratpac. Bloomberg. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-24/mother-of-golf-prodigy-in-hazing-death-defied-by-fratpac.html

Hill, M. (1990, November 18). Los Angeles Times: West Point Orders About-Face on 108-Year Tradition of Hazing Cadets. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-18/news/mn-6568_1_west-point

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