The Variables that Produce Conformity and Obedience
We as humans have an amazing ability to communicate and interact with each other. This is a profound advantage we have on other species living on planet earth, but this gift can be a downfall. When we are in large groups of people are minds can be swayed easily. One way in which we are persuaded is conformity. According to our text book conformity is: Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with the group standard. In humans our conformity can be seen quite easily in things like clothes or new technology. For example everybody in this country loves Nike shoes.They are a complete fascination. Are Nike shoes any better than any other name brand like Reebok or Nike? Probably not but like I said earlier everyone has Nike shoes so that is considered the norm, so if you want to be "cool" and fit it you buy these shoes.
Weather a person conforms to group standards or not depends on various things. One factor is the persons level of insecurity. If the individual is insecure they are more likely to conform to the group. Another catalyst of conformity is the amount of people in the group that is in agreement. It is said if the group is three or more we humans are more likely to conform. One last thing that produces conformity is the status and attractiveness of the group. For example you see in our schools when the popular kids start wearing a certain brand of clothing everyone else in school begins purchasing that particular brand.
For a long while the psychology community has long known that people are easily persuaded to change their behavior, but they did not to know to what extent. This changing your behavior because of orders we are given is known as obedience. Our text book defines obedience as: the compliance with an order, request, or law in submission to another’s authority. Obedience has a lot to do with the authority the person has giving the order. For example in the world of high school sports there are certain teammates you have who like to order you around and tell you what to do, but most times we do not listen to them. But when a coach gives us the same order we listen because, he has the authority to punish us or in psychology terms present us with a negative stimuli if we do not comply. Another variable that effects obedience is the institution that the figure giving orders is a part of. If a stranger on the street strapped lights to his car and tried pulling you over you would likely not comply to his request, but if a police officer flips on his lights most times you will immediately pull over.
The tools of conformity and obedience can be very useful in getting people together for a just cause, for example when nations like ours a brave few act out against authority and many follow their lead because it comes the norm. But at the same time these two things can be very dangerous weapons of destruction.A great example is Adolph Hitler brainwashing the entire German nation to believe that senseless killing is just a normal part of day to day life. It is this thought of things such as the Holocaust that frightens me about us as humans.
Below I have posted two links. The first is a link to a youtube video discussing conformity. The video gives good examples of experiments done on conformity. The second link is also to a youtube video, but this video discusses the idea of obedience. It goes over Stanley Milgram's experiment is on the topic of obedience. In his experiment he had "teachers" shock "students" for making mistakes.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNIuFrso8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCVlI-_4GZQ
Weather a person conforms to group standards or not depends on various things. One factor is the persons level of insecurity. If the individual is insecure they are more likely to conform to the group. Another catalyst of conformity is the amount of people in the group that is in agreement. It is said if the group is three or more we humans are more likely to conform. One last thing that produces conformity is the status and attractiveness of the group. For example you see in our schools when the popular kids start wearing a certain brand of clothing everyone else in school begins purchasing that particular brand.
For a long while the psychology community has long known that people are easily persuaded to change their behavior, but they did not to know to what extent. This changing your behavior because of orders we are given is known as obedience. Our text book defines obedience as: the compliance with an order, request, or law in submission to another’s authority. Obedience has a lot to do with the authority the person has giving the order. For example in the world of high school sports there are certain teammates you have who like to order you around and tell you what to do, but most times we do not listen to them. But when a coach gives us the same order we listen because, he has the authority to punish us or in psychology terms present us with a negative stimuli if we do not comply. Another variable that effects obedience is the institution that the figure giving orders is a part of. If a stranger on the street strapped lights to his car and tried pulling you over you would likely not comply to his request, but if a police officer flips on his lights most times you will immediately pull over.
The tools of conformity and obedience can be very useful in getting people together for a just cause, for example when nations like ours a brave few act out against authority and many follow their lead because it comes the norm. But at the same time these two things can be very dangerous weapons of destruction.A great example is Adolph Hitler brainwashing the entire German nation to believe that senseless killing is just a normal part of day to day life. It is this thought of things such as the Holocaust that frightens me about us as humans.
Below I have posted two links. The first is a link to a youtube video discussing conformity. The video gives good examples of experiments done on conformity. The second link is also to a youtube video, but this video discusses the idea of obedience. It goes over Stanley Milgram's experiment is on the topic of obedience. In his experiment he had "teachers" shock "students" for making mistakes.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNIuFrso8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCVlI-_4GZQ