Conformity - How can concepts of social psychology and conformity be applied to real life scenarios?
BEN CURTIS
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY - CONFORMITY
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY – CONFORMITY. HOW CAN CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND CONFORMITY BE APPLIED TO REAL LIFE SCENARIOS?
Conformity is one of the most important issues in psychology with regards to its relevance in society. It is a phenomenon that has always existed in modern culture, able to change people’s behaviour to the extent that they are “willing to call white black” in order to mould in with the group. This subject was thoroughly investigated in the 1950s by Solomon Asch (1956). He derived a simple test where nine participants are involved. One participant is completely naïve to the experiment, where as the other eight ‘stooges’ have been given prior instructions. When asked which line out of three possibilities matched most closely to an original line, the eight stooges would confidently give the wrong answer. The last participant would ultimately have a tough decision of whether to go with his/her sense, or with the general consensus of the group. This simple experiment has proved that people can be influenced to such an extent that they see conformity as more important than what they think is right. This, very importantly, is very easily translated into everyday social situations, mostly affecting children, and especially teenagers. Once such external factors as drugs, alcohol, smoking, music and sex are introduced, it is easy for individuals to come under great pressure. One very common factor, rather unfortunately so, is drugs.