One of the life lessons I’ve learned through conformity, was the decision I made on pursuing a higher education toward College and University. Growing up in Asia, everything is set up nicely for every person. The path on being successful is already planned thoroughly and structured well by the education department and the culture thinking that existed among the society. However, the "dream" for many was to study abroad or live in America who wish to have. My experience with the “dream” was not so wonderful, because of similarity educational I experienced. Several years ago, I made the decision on continuing my education on pursuing a bachelor degree. Today, the mix feeling of both uncertainty and excitement I had during that moment, I can still …show more content…
The lifestyle as a student in Asia is all about study, study, and more study. The stress level and pressure we have on focusing in school is horrific! I can always feel the stressfulness in the air whenever I walk down the street. The amount of time we spent on studying led to bad eating habit, lack of exercise, and always not enough sleep for each individual day. Everyday life for us is so miserable, everyone has their body but there's no soul in it because of being conformed to the system we have. Life seems so hopeless to us, everything's already well-structured and well-planned for our future. Doing great in school mean we're getting closer to success. Do good in school to achieve bachelor degree, with a bachelor degree in hand, good job will lead to us. And having a steady job, we can form a family and the cycle continues for the next generation. We're just like machines with no personality, we only know how to ace tests and exams. But there's still hope, the hope is not letting go of our own dream or goal that we have in our …show more content…
It was during one of the busiest time in my high school years, where we all prepare ourselves for SAT, looking for schools that relate to our own interests, and getting ready for College application. With all the craziness going on in high school, future wasn’t what I really worried about, but the moment that I had with friends was what I cherished the most. During my high school years, I had too many interests and hobbies. I couldn't make up my mind with one favorite object out of all the favorites I have. Narrowing it down to one specific goal to achieve seem impossible to do, because it was so difficult for me to do. Not being able to think thoroughly with the majors and schools I choose, and clarification and advice from counselor. When everyone started to panic on submitting their college application on time, I was still contemplating on all the school options I’ve considered. The due dates for most college application was already coming to an end, and there's no time left to think. Again, I went with the flow, being conformed with what other friends are doing. Blindly submitting my applications to schools I don't really know. After several months, I received my acceptance from only one school out of all the other schools that I've applied for. And this time, conformity took over my own decision making once again. Looking back now, I was so wrong about thinking
“Coastal Carolina is too far away for you to come home when you have the chance.” Kaylee (my Girlfriend at the time) said to me in my first car as we talked about college choices. I told her about my acceptance to Coastal Carolina University I received from Mrs. Emmons (personal guidance counselor in high school) during a school day, early February. Kaylee’s words made me start a to question myself; “What other colleges can I choose?”. I came home and sat down with my parents in the living room with my Coastal Carolina acceptance letter in my hand and they were proud of me. I asked my parents the same question I asked myself earlier that day “What other colleges can I choose from?”. When
In society, it's difficult to go against the norm. Individuals are compelled to act a specific way, or look a specific way in order to be accepted. For instance, teenagers may encounter pressure from their peers to partake in specific exercises that may not be moral, since they feel the need to fit in. This weight of conformity isn't just present in reality; it can be found in literature as well. The story "St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell depicts that in order to conform to society, individuals abandon their selflessness and compassion and become selfish and apathetic.
Everybody wants to be accepted, yet society is not so forgiving. It bends you and changes you until you are like everyone else. Society depends on conformity and it forces it upon people. In Emerson's Self Reliance, he says "Society is a joint stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater." People are willing to sacrifice their own hopes and freedoms just to get the bread to survive. Although the society that we are living in is different than the one the Emerson's essay, the idea of fitting in still exists today. Although society and our minds make us think a certain way, we should always trust our better judgment instead of just conforming to society.
The question of individualism vs. conformity comes to mind when dealing with the human psyche. Some people value being independent and self-sufficient, while some like to keep themselves in the confines of conformity. The American society tends to lean towards the conformist point of view and it is mostly due to the effects of media. Americans crave the idea of association and strive to become the individuals that the media deems worthy. Conformity is a quality that is present in the hierarchy of American society. It brings a psychological feeling of correlating with a group and creates the notion of liberation from solitude.
Pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform to societal expectations is a challenging decision to make. A person must decide if their personal desire is worth risking the shame and judgment of others or is conforming the route to take because it is easier. When pursuing a personal desire one must ask itself if it is worth the hardship to accomplish one's desire or if it is best left alone and repressed, in hopes of finding comfort in conformity. John Laroche from The Orchid Thief expresses his personal desire without a care for conformity or societal expectations. Nevertheless, Laroche never stopped being strange as he grew up with fascinations of many objects such as orchids, turtles, old mirrors and fish tanks.
The Conformist directed by Bernardo Bertolucci follows the rise and fall of Italian Fascism, but tells it through the perspective of one man, Marcello Clerici. The narrative of the film is told through several non-sequential flashbacks that take place while Clerici and his chauffeur are driving to assassinate Professor Luca Quadri, a former professor of Clerici who is an exiled fascist. Clerici is a man of a troubled past and an uncertain future. He joined the Fascist secret police even though he doesn’t seem to really believe in Fascism and he’s marrying a woman that he doesn’t necessarily seem to love. All to have a life that appears normal. Marcello Clerici is a man imprisoned by his need to fit in, to appear socially and politically normal.
People have been changing their behavior or obeying someone else’s commands for years. This continues today in our everyday lives. Conformity and obedience seem similar but differ in several ways. Conformity is defined by psychologists as a change in behavior or belief to accord with others. Similar to this, is obedience. Obedience is defined acting in accordance with a direct order or command. Normally people conform to reap a reward or to avoid punishment. If we comply with a direct order or command it is considered obedience. Most of the time when people comply, it is to be accepted among others so they are not seen as outsiders. On the other hand, when we obey, we are obeying a command an authority figure gives. Conformity and obedience like this can be seen in groups such as cults.
In each day students are not only challenged with the studies of classwork but the social conflicts of societies ever changing fashions. The peer pressures of grade school can be provoking to the point of conforming to certain behaviors; this can have either an optimistic or pessimistic outcome on the well-being of any student. Adolescents attending grade school must take a stand to decide who and what they want to become in life. Every decision that is made in each moment will affect the outcome of one’s life. Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. (McLeod) Therefore, being conformed shaped and molded by certain behaviors in society and choosing to rebel against the peer pressures of humane will define what type of character a man will have.
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.
Conformity and Obedience in Society The desire to be accepted and belong to a group is an undeniable human need. But how does this need affect an individual? Social psychologists have conducted numerous experiments and concluded that, through various forms of social influence, groups can change their members’ thoughts, feelings, and behavior. In her essay “Group Minds,” Doris Lessing discusses our paradoxical ability to call ourselves individuals and our inability to realize that groups define and influence us.
I spent much of my high school career researching colleges and universities. My mom and I traveled to well over 10 different colleges and universities in 4 different states trying to find the “perfect” school for me. By the end of my junior year of high school I had finally found the ideal school, or so I thought. The school was small, environmentally friendly, new, beautiful, diverse, and just happened to be located 1,000 miles away from home. Everyone at my small high school knew that I was going away to school and it was a huge deal because the majority of my classmates were going to in state schools. I traveled to the school multiple times for orientations, to meet my roommates, and to make sure it was the “perfect” school for me. Early May of my senior year of high school, right before graduation, I woke up with a feeling in my gut that this
As the end of my senior year in high school approached, I had to make an important decision. What school was I going to spend the next few years of my life at? When the financial aid packages arrived, I was torn between two colleges. After sitting down with my mother and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of both schools, I came to my final decision. It seemed like a year ago I was imagining what college life would be like and suddenly before my eyes, I would be a college student in a matter of four months.
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
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.
As I entered high school the pressure to succeed and live up to my parent’s expectations increased. I joined clubs that my parents approved of, I took classes that would look good on my transcript, and I studied 24/7 to keep a good GPA. Seeing the people around me happy and proud of me was a good feeling. I stayed up all night just so I could study and get good grades that would make my family and teachers proud. Junior year I never got more than four hours of sleep a night. I was a zombie just going through the motions of life. As I began to look for colleges, the pressure to be #1 grew. My parents took me on countless college tours, thirty seven to be exact, in order to find the “right school for me.” My parents drove me around the country visiting tons of top engineering schools. Occasionally we would visit schools I wanted to visit. But every visit went the same. If my parents chose the school they smiled the whole tour and spent the car ride home talking about how great it was. If it was a school I chose