Conformity vs. Individualism Essay - 2751 Words

We’ve all know what it feels like: walking down the halls in middle school or high school while you feel like you’re being watched†¦analyzed†¦critiqued. It would almost seem like every person you passed would be silently judging you for what you’re wearing, how you applied your makeup, how you did in the last soccer game, or what they heard you did with Jonny. The passerby’s in the hallway would place you on the high-school-hierarchy-of-coolness scale based on superficial characteristics even before getting to know you. Adolescence is a time of learning and forming an identity but it’s also a time where you are constantly being watched and evaluated by your peers, sometimes even put down by physical or verbal means. Bullying has always been†¦show more content†¦But conforming to what the majority is doing because it is deemed as cool is a whole different story. Instead of conforming to keep society running smoothly, we sometimes c onform due to fear that we will receive hateful backlash for breaking against the norm or in fear that we will be wrong. Solomon Asch explains the latter reason when he conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. In his experiment, there was only one true participant and 4 other fake participants that will help prove his point correct. Cards were shown to everyone where there were lines of different length illustrated. They all had to choose which line was the longest. The first four people at the table were the fake participants and purposely chose the wrong answers. The last person was the true participant in the experiment and in all of the experiments they conducted, the last person always went with what the rest of the group thought even though he knew that the answer was incorrect. After the experiment was conducted, the real participants were interviewed and asked why they went along with e veryone else even though they knew the answer was incorrect. â€Å"Most of them said that they did not reallyShow MoreRelatedJohn Updike’s Portrayal of Individualism vs. Conformity in Society2079 Words   |  9 Pagesstrife. Young adults often find these standards to be extremely restricting and favor freedom of action over the collective control. Commonly known as individualism, this social theory is very alive in the hearts and actions of young adults and never quite leaves a human as he or she grows older and â€Å"matures.† In middle class, Protestant America individualism is subverted in favor of traditional societal standards and customs. Protestant America happens to be the setting of three stories written by authorRead MoreEssay On Individualism And Collectivism1162 Words   |  5 Pagesessay will discuss the influence of cultural dimensions on behavior. 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