Conformity and Social Influence

Conformity and Social Influence

Conformity and Social Influence

Asadi Soyinka

Walden University

January 09, 2011

Abstract

Conformity is a form of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes and/or behavior to adhere to a group or social norm. Social Influence is the efforts on the part of one person to alter the behavior or attitudes of one or more people.

Conformity and Social Influence

The Heaven's Gate members demonstrated conformity by having the need to escape sanctions and to live up to the expectations of others and therefore remain in their good graces. The members wanted to gain some form of a reward and wanted to avoid punishment (worldly things). I believe that the cult brought them a sense of hope and a place to belong to. They needed something to define their existence on Earth and their normal everyday lives were not rendering that definition. Many of them had families, businesses, careers, and were surrounded by people that loved them. However, when someone is miserable on the inside and fights daily for self-identity, it is easy for them to fall prey to the first person that claim they understand. Many times in life, we find ourselves psychologically absent, we have no knowledge of who we are, what our purpose in life is, and we do not know how to take our place in the great circle of life. Conformity is the result non-self awareness, our lack of self acknowledgment manifests into the desire to be acknowledged and we latch on to the first person or group of people that offer us a definition of who we are and what we are to be doing with our lives.

The Armenian and Yugoslavian would be two cultures that would be likely to conform because of the way that their native countries were taken over by the Russian culture. In countries low on individualism, conformity is popular and autonomy is rated as less important. So economically wealthy countries, when compared with poorer countries, will conceivably show fewer examples of conformity. Socioeconomic status, social and environmental conditions all play an important role in whether a culture is apt to conformity. Those who are in lower class groups and dwell in harsh environmental conditions are more prone to conformity because of their situation. They often feel that those who are in an upper socioeconomic class and who live in wealthier neighborhoods have more knowledge and so they conform to their train of thought.

The members of Heaven's