Conformity is defined by Zimbardo (1992) as, ‘A tendency for people to adopt behavior, values and attitudes of other members of a reference group.’ Mann (1969) identified the two major types of conformity: normative conformity and informational conformity. Normative conformity is caused by a desire to be liked. People conform because they think that other members of their reference group will like and accept them. They also want to avoid embarrassment and humiliation from other group members. It is a desire to be right that forms the basis of informational conformity; people conform because they look to others whom they believe to be correct to give them information.
Humanity is questioned by acknowledging that self-approval comes from making …show more content…
Basically, people have a natural tendency to conform and be similar to those around them. When a new idea or fad comes along it is first seen as odd and unflattering. As more and more attempt to imitate the new fad or idea it becomes accepted. The new idea or fad is only acceptable because all the others are doing it, “Even the woman who refuses from first to last to wear the hoop skirt comes under the law and is its slave; she could not wear the skirt and have her own approval; and that she must have, she cannot help herself.” Thus public opinion is based on nothing more that man’s acceptance of other’s thoughts. However, Twain is not preaching and presents the case through clear examples filled with extensive details and descriptions such as, “He was a gay and impudent and satirical and delightful young black …show more content…
His essay includes several examples of how the everyday man is being turned into a slave by the need to work for wages and not live life based on love of life. His arguments are told through a series of stories. Each story illustrates the notion that wisdom and loving life itself are far more valuable than the “wages” they work so hard for every day. “To have done anything by which you earned money merely is to have been truly idle or worse. If the laborer gets no more than the wages which his employer pays him, he is cheated, he cheats himself”, beautifully displays Thoreau’s belief that being able to enjoy poetry or merely go for a walk in the woods alone, holds much greater satisfaction for the everyday man. Man must be able to see beyond the need to make a living by merely working for a paycheck. The evolution of, Life Without Principles, came out of lectures given in 1854. It was through those lectures that you see Thoreau’s philosophy aligning with Transcendentalism. Thoreau is begging man to follow his heart’s desire, in order to have a fulfilling and worthwhile life. Henry David Thoreau is stating that the corporeal things around us are beneath the spiritual ideals that perpetuate the universe. Mankind should be more concerned with living life, rather than making a living in order to survive
Humanity is questioned by acknowledging that self-approval comes from making …show more content…
Basically, people have a natural tendency to conform and be similar to those around them. When a new idea or fad comes along it is first seen as odd and unflattering. As more and more attempt to imitate the new fad or idea it becomes accepted. The new idea or fad is only acceptable because all the others are doing it, “Even the woman who refuses from first to last to wear the hoop skirt comes under the law and is its slave; she could not wear the skirt and have her own approval; and that she must have, she cannot help herself.” Thus public opinion is based on nothing more that man’s acceptance of other’s thoughts. However, Twain is not preaching and presents the case through clear examples filled with extensive details and descriptions such as, “He was a gay and impudent and satirical and delightful young black …show more content…
His essay includes several examples of how the everyday man is being turned into a slave by the need to work for wages and not live life based on love of life. His arguments are told through a series of stories. Each story illustrates the notion that wisdom and loving life itself are far more valuable than the “wages” they work so hard for every day. “To have done anything by which you earned money merely is to have been truly idle or worse. If the laborer gets no more than the wages which his employer pays him, he is cheated, he cheats himself”, beautifully displays Thoreau’s belief that being able to enjoy poetry or merely go for a walk in the woods alone, holds much greater satisfaction for the everyday man. Man must be able to see beyond the need to make a living by merely working for a paycheck. The evolution of, Life Without Principles, came out of lectures given in 1854. It was through those lectures that you see Thoreau’s philosophy aligning with Transcendentalism. Thoreau is begging man to follow his heart’s desire, in order to have a fulfilling and worthwhile life. Henry David Thoreau is stating that the corporeal things around us are beneath the spiritual ideals that perpetuate the universe. Mankind should be more concerned with living life, rather than making a living in order to survive