From pop culture we've seen that to be popular, you have to fit-in with the cool crowd. But what exactly is fitting in? From psychology we know that it is just conformity, or the tendency of people to alter their behavior as a result of group pressure. This pressure can especially have power over us when it is unanimous and you are the only one who is fighting against the majority.
This is seen perfectly in a scene from the movie Mean Girls.
In this clip Lindsey Lohan's character Cady slowly learns about all the deindividuation she will have to go through to fit in with the popular group. In the movie she goes against who she is and sacrifices many things just to be one of the girls in the Plastics. Maybe in this fictional story the only thing lost was the chance to wear something not pink -- but it's scary to think how far conformity can go and how much it can influence our decisions.
I really enjoyed the blog How it Feels to Be Discriminated.
I think everyone has witnessed the pressures of conformity, maybe even given in themselves or seen someone else completely alter because of it. Seeing and learning about conformity from a psychology perspective is completely different though and really interesting!