The Psychology behind Social Pressure

To what extent do those around us affect the way we think; they we perceive a situation; or they way we form our prerogatives? There are many different trains of thought, some of which are adopted, others of which are taken into account based on experience and periods of introspection, but there is one that lies with it, a fundamental difference in comparison to others: the group mind. To which it involves several individuals, a group mind is in essence, a collective following to a set of beliefs and/or practices, usually brought together through forms of social pressure and preconceived notions of moral obligation. Furthermore, these groups are often characterized by the absence of individualism and a sense of obliviousness towards how their unspoken rules influences their view of the world as a whole. Moreover, group minds also involve social pressures, often enticing some to forsake their opinions to fit the given status quo of the group. Indeed, humans are social creatures that want to feel as if their participation in a group has value, but without the awareness of how social pressures affect their ability to make decisions and how one can overcome such pressure, they are nothing more but mental toxins, or in other words, group minds.

The mock-prison experiment or otherwise known as the Stanford experiment, involves several individuals, some taking on the role of prison guards and others taking on the role of prisoners in an effort to better understand the conflict amongst these two groups. In this experiment, the “prison guards” immediately assumed their roles, without question, as did many of the so-called prisoners. The guards often displayed sadistic and even psychopathic behavior as evidenced by the fact that some to...

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...en that is the way that one can incorporate social groups into their everyday lives, all the while maintaining their autonomy. This segues into the final point: maintaining one’s autonomy is important because one should provide their own unique input, generating various ideas and unique perspectives allows others to build onto that and ultimately advances society as a whole.

Works Cited

Asch E, Solomon. “Opinions and Social Pressure.“ Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Behrens Laurence and Leonard J Rosen. Boston: Pearson. 2013. 655. Print.

“Prison and Guard: The Stanford Experiment.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Behrens Laurence and Leonard J Rosen. Boston: Pearson. 2013. 660. Print.

Lessing, Doris. “Group Minds.“ Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Behrens Laurence and Leonard J Rosen. Boston: Pearson. 2013. 652. Print.