Conformity

One thing that I will remember five years from now is the concept of conformity. According to the book, conformity is the "tendency of people to alter their behavior as a result of group pressure." In my own terms, I would describe this as something we do in order to fit in with a group of people to not look unintelligent. We are in fear of embarrassment when we engage in group activities or experiments where people are watching us or are a part of a social group.

The reason why I think I will be able to remember this concept in five years from now is because it is such a common thing that I'm sure all of us have experienced it at least once in our lives. So five years from now, I will remember the concept of conformity whenever someone tries to answer a question in a group setting in the same way as someone else.

One question with this concept that I've thought about is that do we only conform in front of groups? What about just in general by ourselves when we are talking to people? Don't some people answer questions or talk in certain ways that society "likes"? It seems as if society has such a big impact on us that we conform to the standards that it has for us. For example, since society seems to portray going to college as something that is needed in our lives, someone who didn't go to college (but who is around the same age as a college student) might try to sound more educated or "college-like" when speaking to someone. Or they may try to act smarter than they really are just to look good to people because of what society says.

Here is a video on social conformity: