Thursday, February 12, 2015

ANALYSING CONFORMITY
Stefanny Dewi Anggraini

1. In this case, Mark conforms with his colleagues based on normative influence. Personally, he thinks that the immigrants aren't lazy, unlike what his colleagues think. But because he wants to be accepted, he forced to agreed what they say. He just started a new job, and he needs a group to belong with.

This conformity isn't informational because Mark knew that the immigrants aren't like that. He knew that because he has been living with his parents for a long time. And he trusted his experiences more that what his colleagues said. As we can see, Mark only nods and didn't say anything, and he just merely comply with what his colleagues said. He doesn't think that way, and he just pretending that he have the same idea with them.

In the reality, a lot of new freshmans in school, college, or workplace usually conform with some group who have been there before them. It's rare for the 'senior groups' to conform with the new member. They already felt that they belong to their group, and they don't have to conform with the new member. But it's not impossible that some of the group members maybe just conform with the other members ( in group conformity ).

We can see Mark as the minority side, and his colleagues as the majority side. Wether we realized it or not, the majority side tend to give more influence than the minority side. For most people, it doesn't feel good to be a minority, so they follow/conform the majority side to become just like them, to feel accepted. He feels the peer pressure from his social group, and it makes him conforms.

2. In this case, Jenny conforms with her friends based on informational influence. At first, she didn't knew anything about animal rights and vegetarian things. But after she hangs out with her friends, she starts to think like them, and behave like them. Jenny doesn't follow them because she forced to, but she follows them because she starts to think that way.

But it's not impossible that in the beginning, this conformity was based on normative influence. Jenny was new in the university, and her new friends have been hanging out for a long time. Jenny wants to be accepted and she tried to understand the way they think. But as the time goes by, she started to be one of them, and everything she does now are based by herself, by the way she thinks.

It's clear that she internalized with the behaviour and values of the group. The way they think becomes the way Jenny thinks. It's her new self , and she doesn't forced to everything that related to animal rights. It's also clear that she doesn't merely comply with her friends. If she's just complying, she will just follow them for awhile, and she won't do/think their way in her daily life.

In the real world, what happens to Jenny also happens to a lot of people. In Jenny's case, the ways he conforms brings positive effects for her. People who conforms with a community who have good personality will get positive effects. For example, some people who have diligent friends usually will acts diligently time by time. But for some people, it doesn't work that way. If they conform with people who have bad personality, they will get negative effects.

3. In Surita's case, surita conforms with the other staffs based on normative influence. She didn't know why the others acts that way towards the pupils. But since she works there, and she want to be accepted by the other staffs and the pupils, she conforms with them. She observes the way the others act, and she follows them. In a new workplace, it's really important for her to do what the other staffs do. If she doesn't conform with them, and they don't like them, it will be hard for her.

If she conforms because she knew the motto of the school, and the reason why the other teachers always smiles with the pupils, and she understands and accepts the reasons, than we can say that the way she conforms is based on informational influence, but since she doesn't, the way she conforms is only based by normative influence.

In the beginning, surita merely complies with the other teachers. It's not her real self, and she is just following what the others do. But it's possible that after awhile, she with internalise that behaviour. Wether if she like it or not, she is forced to act that way as long as she works there, at it may causes her to internalize that behaviour.

In the real world, some people can change because they conforms to the others. A long term conformity may causes people to change their behaviour. But it all depends on the person itself.

4. In Asch conformity experiment was based by normative influence. The participants tend to conform with the confederate to feel accepted, and avoid social punishment. The participants knew the real answer, but because of the peer pressure, they automatically follows the other. There was a situation when a participant didn't conform with the others, and suddenly the other participants look at him. The participant feel pressured because of the others.

Besides that, the majority size also had an influence to the participants. In this experiments, the people who answer the wrong answer was the majority. People tend to think that the majority is the right one. That's why even though they knew the real answer, they still followed the wrong answer, because most of the group answered it incorrectly.

It's clear that the participants were just comply with the others. They don't know the reason why the others answered incorrectly, but because the others did so, they followed the others. There are also an experiment where the participants were allowed to respond in writing, and he discovered that conformity significantly decreased. It's shows that there's a group pressure that affects the others in that experiment.

It's been written that there are some participants who aren't affected by the others. There are some people who have high confidence, a and usually,they're the one who don't conform with the others. These people usually are the minorities.

In the real world, just like Asch conformity experiment, people tend to conform to the majority group. The majority isn't always right, but because a lot of people don't have high confidence, they always follow the others. This is not a good thing, because it kills the creativity and critical thinking of the others. In the real world, the minorities are really important to give different perspectives on a problem.
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