Conformity, Compliance, And Obedience Essay

In chapter 6 I learned more on how social influence impacts our everyday relations. There are three levels of social influence and they are by conformity, compliance and obedience. The first section talks about conformity, and it is the lowest level because we voluntarily adapt our behavior to match others. Now there are two variations or reasons outlined by the book to conform to those around us and they are “normative social influence,” and “informational social influence”. The former is our response to feel a greater sense of belonging in the group while the second deals more with us trying to be right by sometimes going with what others say to be right too.

In “The Next Genocide,” Snyder begins with, “Before he fired the shot, the Einsatzgruppe commander lifted the Jewish child in the air and said, ‘You must die so that we can live.’ As the killing proceeded, other Germans rationalized the murder of Jewish children in the same way: them or us” (Snyder par. 1). The austere illustration of German soldiers massacring innocent Jewish children emphasizes the stark horror and terror of a twisted ideology in the readers’ minds. Such an emotional appeal strengthens Snyder’s argument that pointless bloodshed occurs whenever empiricism is disregarded in favor of fanaticism, creating desperate countries that are willing to commit genocide to sustain themselves. While the horrors of the Holocaust seem a distant memory, the greater terror is that those same factors are still viable reasons for alarm.

Conformity and Nonconformity in Society Many societies try their hardest to ensure the total conformity of their citizens, whether it be through incentives or by creating fear. However, it rarely succeeds, as there are always a few who don’t conform to the unspoken societal rules that have been set. When this happens, societies usually try to assimilate the nonconforming and place them into their fitting roles in society, with this being a main concept of Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Decades after the atrocities committed during the Holocaust, people are still baffled by the fact that approximately eleven million people were killed in Nazi Germany following the orders of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime (Niewyk & Nicosia, 2000). How is it possible that approximately 500,000 people participated in planning and executing eleven million people, including approximately 1.5 million Jewish children? (Radcliff, 2004; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2014). The atrocious crimes committed during the Holocaust might compel someone to draw the conclusion that humans are innately evil. However, the trail of Adolf Eichmann, one of the major contributors to the Holocaust, stirred animosity as his defense requested the dismissal of

Introduction: During the Holocaust, many people suffered from the despicable actions of others. These actions were influenced by hatred, intolerance, and anti-semitic views of people. The result of such actions were the deaths of millions during the Holocaust, a devastating genocide aimed to eliminate Jews. In this tragic event, people, both initiators and bystanders, played major roles that allowed the Holocaust to continue. Bystanders during this dreadful disaster did not stand up against the Nazis and their collaborators.

Social Conformity in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest “He Who Marches Out Of Step Hears Another Drum” (Kesey 154). In this modern world, to come to terms with society is to conform to its standards. A society regularly scrutinizes people who do not fit the common mold of norms. Consequently, forcing people to follow a societal norm is detrimental to the health of the mind and body. This struggle between conformers and nonconformers creates a schism in a society that causes a great disparity in ideals.

Milgram himself concluded how easily ordinary people ‘can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority". (Milgram 1974) As this report has highlighted the research is not without controversy with many questioning to what extent Milgram’s experiment is true to real life and has been criticized for not highlighting further situational variables in determining obedience to authority. Regardless of this, there is no doubt Milgram highlighted a rather troubling phenomenon.

Certain people were prisoners and others were prison guards. During this, the prison guards were allowed to use any form of discipline they wanted. In retaliation, the prisoners lashed out, and it became complete chaos. This experiment test social influence showed us the influence that power can have on people and can alter their behavior. Janis’ notion helps us understand social influence on another level, because as the number of people increase the heavier the influence and peer pressure is.

Arguably, one of the most well-known experiments regarding the tendency of humans to inflict harm upon strangers under orders from perceived authority figures is Stanley Milgram’s electric shock experiments in 1963 (Smith, Aquino, Koleva & Graham, 2014). The experiment was based on the Nuremberg Trials, wherein the Nazi soldiers on trial claimed that they were only following orders, and as such implied a lesser role in their crimes during the Holocaust. While there are many factors that influence injustice against a people, in this paper, the role of moral exclusion will be examined in detail in order to ascertain how those excluded from powerful groups by virtue of their lineage and race could then be subjected to significant harm, and perhaps

Conformity and group mentality are major aspects of social influence that have governed some of the most notorious events and experiments in history. The Holocaust is a shocking example of group mentality, or groupthink, which states that all members of the group must support the group’s decisions strongly, and all evidence leading to the contrary must be ignored. Social norms are an example of conformity on a smaller scale, such as tipping your waiter or waitress, saying please and thank you, and getting a job and becoming a productive member of society. Our society hinges on an individual’s inherent need to belong and focuses on manipulating that need in order to create compliant members of society by using the ‘majority rules’ concept. This

Over time, the guards began to blindly follow their instructions, even if they were dehumanizing and mistreating the prisoners. The prisoners, in turn, became passive and resigned to their mistreatment. This experiment illustrates how even seemingly normal individuals can turn to evil when their individuality is compromised by societal pressure to

Conforming and moving against one’s true nature is often harmful to their mental state of being. This can be demonstrated by how “conformity can be seen as America’s most common, but dangerous psychological disorder”(Fey 6). People often force themselves into

In the article “conformity” it says “Being different from the group carries the risk of social rejection, a deep fear of many people. The drive to conform is often particularly for adolescents, for whom acceptance by peers can be a primary goal but it affects people of all ages” Harrison. This quote shows that conformity is all a social thing. You could be saying that it mainly affects kids, but it can have an affect on anybody, including adults. We all love to be accepted, usually not rejected.

In today's society, the balance between individualism and conformity to society's expectations is a prominent and deceptive conflict. Oftentimes, the individual must put his uniqueness aside and settle for a view of an occupation, hobby, or idea that society agrees with. Instead of expressing original and creative ideas, they are held hostage by comparing themselves with the lives and accomplishments of others and the standards their our society. One of the biggest tools of society, social media, allows people to share ideas and interests with everyone. However, naturally, one will only post what he knows others will accept and enjoy just as he does.

The exposure to the multitude of attitudes and behaviours prevalent in the contemporary paradigms of society motivates individuals to transition from their morals and comply with expectations in situations of subordination. Conformity, an act of submission to group cohesion, promoting consistency in norms and practices within a population, demonstrates the pervasive power of social influence and its role as the backbone of worldwide denominations offering a sense of belonging and group identity. Encouraged by their doctrinal teachings and moral commitment, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) is a conservative religious group bound by the compulsion to adhere to the principles of faith. The patterns of compliance to traditional