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Conformity in the Modern American Society

Conformity: “the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms”

There is a problem with our society today that I believe is due to the core social psychology term described above. Conformity is evident in many social scenarios, especially in the propagation of ideas through media and advertisement. The problem is that the ideas propagated through these mediums have led millions of Americans astray in convincing them to buy their products, or believe in their philosophies. The problem at the core has to do with the philosophies that underlie the motives. There are three main philosophies that are grabbing hold of Americans due to their conformity to the vast amount of media and advertisement propaganda. These philosophies include Individualism, Hedonism, and Minimalism.

Individualism

The definition of this philosophy from the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: “The belief that the needs of each person are more important than the needs of the whole society or group.” This concept is huge in our society today and people have begun to only care about what is good for them in the moment, versus what might be best for the society as a whole in the long run. In theory, it is obvious that looking out for your own needs over others would be better for you, and it might, in the short term. However, when this selfish mindset is adopted by more and more people within a society, the society itself begins to crumble, and bring the individuals down with it. The conformity of the American people into this philosophy is what has caused our society to be so selfish and lack compassion.

Hedonism

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of hedonism is “The doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life.” The definition from the dictionary is pretty straight forward, essentially, hedonism is the believe that pleasure is always the right path. Many that have a hedonistic view will say “If it feels good, do it.” This is a monumental philosophy in our society today as seen in all kinds of advertisement and media. The promise of this philosophy is freedom to do what you want when you want and for it to feel good. What people misunderstand is that hedonism is just a gateway to slavery of addictions and pleasure. Holding pleasure as the ultimate good does not make for sustainable, long-term happiness. This is also the hardest philosophy for people to deny because the short term effects are pleasure and it tricks them into believe it is long term. This philosophy has consumed millions of Americans into addiction, gluttony and long term unhappiness.

Minimalism

The minimalist philosophy I am referring to in this context is not the act of living off of as little as possible. That philosophy is described in the documentary “The Minimalists” and is actually a great way to live your life. The minimalism that has consumed countless Americans is the idea of doing as little as possible to get out as much as possible. It may seem like there is not an issue with this idea, or that it might even seem efficient. However, it leads to laziness and entitlement. This is evident in our society today. So many young Americans believe that they are owed by society and believe that they should not have to put in work to get results. This causes a large degrading of societal values. 

 Due to the large portion of Americans that have fallen for the short term pleasures of these philosophies outlined above, our country has seen some really tough times, where people lack compassion and only care about themselves. These shifts in American’s philosophies and values are due to the conformity of individuals to the philosophies outlined above. It tough to watch people fade into the darkness these philosophies lead to, but it is not too late for people to begin to realize the slippery slope they slide on.

References

Individualism. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com.Retrieved May 8, 2011, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Individualism

Hedonism. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com.Retrieved May 8, 2011, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Hedonism

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Self Esteem and it’s effect on social behavior

Self esteem is an interesting characteristic of the human species by the fact that it is not directly seen in a person, but only illustrated through the ways that it affects the person’s behavior. You can look at a human and see the color of their skin, or hair, or eyes, and know that characteristic about them. However, when it comes to the self esteem of a person, it cannot be directly observed. There are ways to get a feel for one’s self esteem. Peoples social behavior is often affected by their level of self esteem. A classic example that is often misconstrued is the middle school bully who has high self esteem. They go around school picking on kids because in their mind, they are better than the rest. The gray area with this example is that vast amount of life experience and other social factors that contribute to the bully phenomena. Also, the flip side to the bully example is the effect on the bullied kid’s self esteem. Studies show that victims of bullying develop lower self esteem. Another factor that contributes to bullying is the evolutionary aspect of its origin.

There was a study done called “Survival of the Fittest and the Sexiest” that indicates that bullying could be an evolutionary characteristic. The study was done in Vancouver, Canada where 135 students filled out questionnaires. The students were put into 4 groups, bullies, victims, bully/victim and bystander. Depression, self esteem, social status and social anxiety were all variables that were observed. Results show that bullies had the highest social rank, and score best on the mental health examinations. The theory behind this study is the EPT, or Evolutionary Psychology Theory. This theory relates bullying to the the human’s need to have a high ranking in order to find a mate and reproduce. It shows that counteracting bullying may be more complicated than people once thought (Wong). 

One social psychology term that relates to self esteem is the idea of the self fulfilling prophesy. A self fulfilling prophesy is the coming to life of a belief someone previously had about the situation. In the social psychology setting, this term takes on a more specific definition where two people must be involved. Therefore, a self fulfilling prophesy turns into an idea that one has about another that ends up becoming true. This relates to self esteem because when there are negative self fulfilling prophesies that happen to a person, their self esteem has shown do decrease, while the opposite is shown for positive self fulfilling prophesies. A study was done that analyzed how self fulfilling prophesies affect social behavior. It was found that adolescents who were more negatively spoken about at the beginning became more submissive and less appealing romantically in the end of the study (Loeb).

Loeb, E., Hessel, E., & Allen, J. (2016, November). The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Adolescent Social Expectations. Retrieved February 12, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28082755 

Myers, D. G. (2010). Social psychology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Wong, J., & Koh, J. (2015, July 09). Survival of the Fittest and the Sexiest: Evolutionary Origins of Adolescent Bullying. Retrieved February 12, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26160858