Social conformity is the phenomenon when an individual follows decisions made by the majority. This type of social influence may also be referred to as peer pressure in more juvenile situations. The article and the clips cover many interesting aspects of social conformity, and just how vital it may be to understand it. I was quite baffled by the “What Were You Thinking?” clips presented by NBC Dateline. Some of the examples were certainly theatrical in my opinion. At the begining of a clip, Chris Hansen spoke of how childlike istincts, like mimicking elders, stay intact with our thought processes throughout our lives. This simple truth made sense of a few of the situations, but not for some.
If I were to be in a situation as silly as the …show more content…
Asch in the 1950’s, social psychologists may deem what is the true decision making process by analyzing brain scans. The technology used was not available to Dr. Asch during his trials. That is another reason that I believe these continuations of the studies have been beneficial.The analysis of the brain scans proved that a separate part of the brain will be activated when a person is influenced rather than acting on their own decision making skills. Dr. Berns gave many examples of how social conformity exists in our everyday society. Elections, and jury trials, being an example of how social conformity can affect a large group of people is mentioned in the article. If a fraction of the group publicly resolves to vote one way, others may be more inclined to vote the same way due to peer pressure. Relating to the Arizona Sweat Lodge Deaths, I believe social conformity is the only logical explanation. Participants inside the lodge must have noticed that the temperatures were rising dramatically. The issue was that each person made the decision to not act on this knowledge basically because no one else was going to. If a person does not stand up and call attention to a problem, would it ever be recognized? The masterminds associated with Ponzi schemes, on the other hand, understand the human routine of social conformity outweighing rational desires, much like Dr.
If I were to be in a situation as silly as the …show more content…
Asch in the 1950’s, social psychologists may deem what is the true decision making process by analyzing brain scans. The technology used was not available to Dr. Asch during his trials. That is another reason that I believe these continuations of the studies have been beneficial.The analysis of the brain scans proved that a separate part of the brain will be activated when a person is influenced rather than acting on their own decision making skills. Dr. Berns gave many examples of how social conformity exists in our everyday society. Elections, and jury trials, being an example of how social conformity can affect a large group of people is mentioned in the article. If a fraction of the group publicly resolves to vote one way, others may be more inclined to vote the same way due to peer pressure. Relating to the Arizona Sweat Lodge Deaths, I believe social conformity is the only logical explanation. Participants inside the lodge must have noticed that the temperatures were rising dramatically. The issue was that each person made the decision to not act on this knowledge basically because no one else was going to. If a person does not stand up and call attention to a problem, would it ever be recognized? The masterminds associated with Ponzi schemes, on the other hand, understand the human routine of social conformity outweighing rational desires, much like Dr.