You Are Not Alone!

I agree completely with this blog. I believe in order to be successful in life you have to be willing to take some chances. This means not always conforming to what everyone else is telling you. Sometimes you have to step outside the box and be willing to stand on your own and take a stand for what you believe in. I believe people these days have a hard time doing this because everyone beleives that the majority is always right. If you are able to think as an individual you will be much more successful in life.

I agree with you totally. I think that in our lives everyone, at least once, has made a decision based on the fact that everyone else agreed so they just conformed to agree with the group. It is important to stick up for our beliefs, especially as we enter the work force, because it could be a decision that affects multiple people's futures. Although it may seem hard at the time not to go with the majority, it is essential that people express their ideas because there could be an even better solution than what the majority has thought of.

I agree with you, but I think there is a time and place to conform and a time and place not to conform. I know that when I have a group project, I just say anything goes because my main concern is getting it done. I figure if I am easy going, the other group members won't complain and BAM! we have a finished project no complaints. But when it comes to more important things, it is important to stick up for our beliefs. Even when it means going against others sometimes you have to. But You also have to be aware of the consequences. Sometimes even if you are right, by not conforming you can make enemies. And it shouldn't happen this way but sadly it does. I'd say if you can be yourself for the most part, you are generally set to go.

I like your comment, but I will just like to add that most of the times the right answer is not simple. In many situations the answer is ambiguous, and saying that or not that is very difficult. Additionally, being the only believing in something, and everyone in the contrary, is a difficult state of being.

I know of a Indian story that takes care of this situation of cohesion. I don't fully remember it, but the idea is the following. Something happens to the water supply of one kingdom, and everyone, less the king, starts to become crazy. The king has a special reserve of water that could prevent him from drinking of the affected water for the rest of his life.

After a long period of time, the king get tier and drinks from the common people water supply. That night, the hole kingdom celebrates that the king become normal.

I have gone through this in studying in the US. While not being form here, many of your traditions and habits are strange and sometimes funny. As an example, the US is the only country in the world that like American Football. Therefore, I believe that saying you should always stick to your ideas is wrong, and I believe that the answer is it depends.

This blog brings up a extremely good point, especially as students in a large college atmosphere all of us have fallen prey to peer pressure in a negative way. As I was listening to the social psychology lectures, Professor Gonzales emphasized how the Western culture as a whole is individualistic in nature. Compared to the Eastern cultures i can see this individualistic nature demonstrated, but within peer groups I see more conformity. Coming from my own experiences and observations, I have seen more conformity than individualization being represented. Is this just me? or do others see it represented as well?

The more I think about it the more I realize that I make decisions almost daily that aren't truly my own. While some of the decisions are based on questions others ask like, "Wanna go get lunch?." I can decide, then, based on who's going, where we're eating, and if I'm hungry, if I want to go.
I have also just agreed with someone else's decision (even if I didn't like it) just to get the job done. It happens a lot, for me, in group work. I do not like working in groups because there are so many different opinions and it's rare that everyone agrees on the same thing 100%. Usually, if I've thrown out some ideas as well as the others in my group, and no one seems to like anyone else's idea, I'll just conform and agree to follow through with the other person's idea, just to get the work done. A consequence of that is that I might not be as willing to do the work if I don't like the idea, but it gets the job done.