Conformity and the Psychology of a Person - Term Paper Example

The term ‘Conformity’ in the field of Social Psychology relates to an individual’s submission to prevailing norms of a particular group or society. To be more specific, it can be defined to be a process by which the attitude and self belief of a person gets changed by several other means. Some of these include the behavior of peers, social norms, cultural pressure or even conditions of sustainability. Hence Conformity can be characteristically defined to every individual depending on how much they get influenced personally by these external factors. As said above, there are several factors that determine the impact of this process. A brief explanation of how some of these factors affect the psychology of a person is provided with apt examples. Conformity is an interesting topic to be discussed in the field of social psychology because the degree to which it affects each person is completely dependent on the external factors. There is also another dimension to it wherein the individual conformity comes into picture. Here, the individual by themselves accept the norms of the group they belong to and follow them. As an individual belonging to any particular group, there are always some norms and cultural rules that need to be followed in order to be in social coherence with the group. The individuals are under immense pressure to follow them so as to be considered a part of that group. In the current world, the generation of youth and peer pressure is forcing more of individuals to succumb to the thoughts of superior groups within their community. They just have to do it to survive that atmosphere. Conformity and Culture Conformity is more of a group culture inference. Hence the size of the group, their cohesion and the status of each individual in the group play a major part. There are also pundits who believe that conformity is more of a culture oriented subject. They believe that it varies based on different cultures. Asch (1956) has demonstrated an example to prove that conformity is related with culture. He showed that an individual’s judgment about a generic issue will be influenced by the norms of the group he belongs to, even though his individual assessment of the same contradicts. All the experiments done by these people have shown that the socio-cultural norms have an impounding effect on the individual conformity exercised. (Asch 1956) Variances of Conformity With the generic meaning of conformity being discussed, the three variances of conformity need to be mentioned. Herber Kelman, famous professor of social ethics had defined three variations of conformity. They are discussed below. Compliance Compliance is a form of conformity where a person, although disagrees about a certain topic within himself, acts to comply with the others in order to please them or to make them feel comfortable. This kind of act can either have a positive effect or a negative on the individual. Basically, a certain line of reference needs to be drawn such that the person can comply with others in order to please them but have to make sure he or she doesn’t lose their self esteem in doing so. An example of such activity would be in a professional environment where a worker has to comply with their boss over any kind of issue in order to satisfy them.( Dittes et al 1956) Identification Identification is rather an alternate way of looking at compliance wherein the individual admittedly follows the values and norms of other persons they like. They willingly want to follow them, their roles and be like them. In some cases, it is how they would have been brought up. An example of such a scenario is where an individual follows the footsteps of his/her father and follows his ideals and values. It is because either he/she liked it or it is the way they are brought up. ( Dittes et al 1956) Internalization Internalization is one form which in most cases has the highest probability of causing negative vibes within a person. It is where a person practically confides with the norms of the society due to social pressure. If they fail to follow it they are in as bait for rejection from the society they live in. It can also present the best positive effect on a person. If a concept or ideology is been given by a high noteworthy person, we tend to accept it and make it part of our beliefs. This could help us or destroy us. ( Dittes et al 1956) All of the three could have magnanimous effect on a person. Also, the circumstances in which the person falls into any of the three categories could also decide on the type of the behavior that the person is going to possess. Conformity in a movie – The Revolutionary Road The movie ‘Revolutionary Road’ by Sam Mendes is an intelligent adaptation of a novel of the same title, published in the year 1961. It clearly depicts the conformity that every individual goes through because of society, personal belief and for the sake of others. Set in the early 1950’s in US, the film clearly portrays the mindset of people during that time. (Rudin & Mendes 2008) It shows how people were more status-minded, how they struggle with monotonousness of life; how their lives were restricted to move in a fixed line and all the more the price they had to pay for their conformity. There are several scenes that depict the effect of conformity of the person. The two main protagonists suffer in their life for the same - their acceptance to certain issues which they totally object to, personally. Brief description of plot The main plot revolves around a couple by the name of Frank and April Wheelers who get married and settled in an area called as Revolutionary road. They are portrayed as a wonderful couple and each of them having big dreams personally. The own a big house in Revolutionary road and Frank is occupied with a good job. With both of their careers moving away from what they expected to have, April decides to move out to Paris with her two children, so that they could relive their joyous moments of bachelor life. But, their life is struck in conformity as both of them fail to come to a decision of how to become what they actually want to be. The film ends without telling a way of how to be free in life as one wants to be without breaking any relationship. It’s indeed a complex subject handled craftily by the director. (Rudin & Mendes 2008) Scene showing conformity Apart from the whole film dealing with the process of an individual’s conformity, there are certain scenes which clearly depict the ‘Internalization’, that the protagonists go through. There is one particular scene were the neighbor of the couples, called as Givings, come for a dinner to Wheeler’s home with their psychologically affected but talented son. The son, John Givings having a Ph. D. in Mathematics is psychologically affected and has gone through number of shock treatments. Though he comes in only two scenes, both have a key role in making the Wheeler’s feel whether they are ‘mad’ to leave to Paris or they are really running away from their problems or running towards a life of freedom. (Rudin & Mendes 2008) It is in this scene their conformity is actually portrayed indirectly. When the above said all gather for a dinner, April discloses to John that they are not leaving France because she is pregnant. John, who in a previous scene perfectly understood the feelings of the couple, gets totally frustrated when he hears this information from April. He then questions Frank, "What happened, Frank? You get cold feet, or what? You decide you're better off here after all? You figure it's more comfy here in the old Hopeless Emptiness after all . . .?" (Rudin & Mendes 2008) Frank, after a heated conversation with John, loses his temper and goes for a fight with John. Fortunately, John’s parents stop him and move John out of house citing the reason that he is sick. This scene is a perfect example of conformity. Here Frank happy about his job and wants to continue as such, hides his personal feelings and agrees to shift to Paris because of April. But then, when April got pregnant, they decide to cancel their trip. This in turn, is compliance made by April for her husband. Although it is not shown directly, the frustration that Frank shows when John asked the above question clearly indicates their conformity and how haplessly they were acting, hiding their personal feelings. This scene shows all variances of conformity where they hide their personal judgments, they follow the norms of the surrounding in Revolutionary road area and they want to be like someone else. (Kelley H 1967). Conclusion Thus, a detailed description of Conformity, its causes, effects and variations were explained. Also, an apt example of a movie scene showing the effects of conformity was detailed here. Although, Conformity is not one of the major concerns in Social psychology, it can be the root cause of many other psychological conditions that individuals go through in their life. References Dittes, J. E., Kelley & Harold H. (1956) Effects of different conditions of acceptance upon conformity to group norms. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. Vol 53(1), 100-107. Kelley H (1967). Attribution Theory In Social Psychology. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Vol 15, 192-238. Asch S. (1956).Studies of independence and conformity: a minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs. Vol. 70, No. 9. 416 Rudin, S.(Producer) , Mendes S (Director), (2008), Revolutionary Road. [Motion Picture]. United States: DreamWorks. Read More