Psychology Essay Sample: Conformity and Obedience

Symbolic interactions are not all the same theoretically. Although all the scholars concur that the people depend on shared secret codes to build their actuality and on the practical prerequisite of understanding behavior by entering the actuality of the actor, significant divisions stay within this outlook. The major division is amid those who stress process and those who stress structure in studying human actuality. Conformity and obedience are underlined by self-identity, which has been commonly defined as a blend of self-referent opinions, emotions, and outlook articulated within a range of aspects of life. It can also be defined as the elements of the self-system entailing the definitions that people associate with multiple positions they typically take in highly distinguished societies.

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A question that psychologists have been asking themselves is why individuals obey they feel forced. Therefore, Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment about the impact or influence of authority on obedience. His findings and conclusions were that individuals either obey due to fear or even a desire to look cooperative, even when they are sure that they are not acting in accordance with their personal wishes (Perry, 2013).

On the other hand, Confucius applauded virtue as an idyllic tool for a good obedience and conformity. He compared virtue to a north polar star to portray the attraction of people to a leader with virtue. He believed that restrictive laws and rules are not effective in governing and must be replaced by moral force. Frightening the society with a dire aftermath after breaking the law is a policy that Confucius opposed at all costs.

In an extract Confucius articulates, If the will be set on virtue, then there will be not any practice of wickedness. Virtue restricts a person from doing wickedness. This ensures that a virtuous leader cannot go against the will of the society, and this implies conforming to the standards of the society. The mind of a virtuous leader is sated with righteousness, and that of a mean leader is filled with selfishness. It is safe to say that virtue in a leader is paramount to running an ideal government. He advocated for leadership through example and indirection in a government. In this excerpt he said, If a man is right in his own person, then there will be deference or conformity without orders being given; but if he is not right in his own person, then there will not be compliance given even if orders are given. This is a conception that can easily be broken down and comprehended. A leader who upholds rightfulness at all times is inclined to receiving natural obedience from the people (Confucius. and Watson, 2007). Whereas leadership through indirection implies that people will naturally follow the steps of their leader if he does right things. It is an ideal for a government since a leader is a reflection that the countrymen look up to in the daily life.

On the other hand Utilitarians give sermons and speeches that encourage people to find truth on their own in the scripture, which could enable them to articulate their newfound ideals through poetry and other artistic forms of expression. The message articulated by the adherents of the liberal group reflect the basic belief of God as an innate part of human nature, and that the fact that humans were inseparable from God would lay the foundation for interpreting Biblical scriptures rationally and reasonably (Turner, 1982). The efforts to obtain a new definition for Unitarianism and launch the self-culture simultaneously built the foundation of the Transcendentalism movement. The message of moral and intellectual growth as a pathway to self-development reached a new generation of adherents, who included Emerson and Thoreau. Most people perceived Transcendentalism as a religious movement during its early days. It was deemed radical to institute further reforms in the church- the reforms included reading the scripture with an open mind, and questioning the Biblical miracles.

Earlier on, the movement pushed for a religious experience bordering on informality and with fewer rituals as well. As the Transcendentalism movement got interested in a broader range of target subjects, Emerson wrote on self-reliance. In particular, Emersons second collection of essays stressed how it was important for individuals to develop, morally and intellectually. The work also argued in defense of statements that supported individualism. In Emersons words, men had to learn the art of detecting and watching the gleam of light that flashes across their minds from within, more than they did the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages (Cooper, 2012). He argues that mans attention should be appropriated to the inner self in order to get guidance instead of reliance on external religion.

By relying on, and accepting, the self, an individual can achieve the oneness that is at the heart of the Transcendentalist ideology. Emersons description of the mind of a child, which lacks the self-doubt that exemplifies the adult mind, depicts self-acceptance on a subconscious level. For individuals to progress under the Transcendentalist paradigm, they had to have total trust in their intuition while warding off external influences from religion, tradition and government. Self-acceptance has a strong connection to non-conformity. Before an individual can have full trust in the self, they must do away with reliance on external elements. Emerson considered the society as a joint-stock corporation, where security concerns motivate members to sacrifice their liberty and culture. Self-reliant persons will ultimately refuse to conform to society, whereas conformity contradicts self-reliance.

According to Emerson, intuition engenders the essences of virtue, life and genius; this constitutes the fundamental aspect of a mans wisdom, and later instruction will constitute tuition. Emerson asserts that mans true development to conformity comes from his removal out of the influences of the external world, which is the hallmark of following natural intuition. Accordingly, Transcendentalism engendered individualism and self-trust as fundamental aspects of the American concept of self. Thoreaus works also fuelled the Transcendentalism movement that resulted in a radical transformation of the America concept of self. At the beginning of Waldens chapter on Higher Laws, Thoreau makes a confession of the desire to eat a raw woodchuck, just for its sake (Waller, 2014).

While Thoreau places a premium on fishing and hunting because of the wild taste, it occurs to him that he no longer fancies eating meat. This wildness is not confined to the woods, but it is prevalent in several forms of society as well. He posits that the savages wildness is a defining hallmark of the ferity that reflects the meeting of good men and lovers. Thoreaus dissatisfaction with the societal dysfunction became focused on the policies that the United States government was pursuing: how the natives were treated, the attack on Mexico, and the continuation and expansion of the institution of slavery. This focus resulted in a shift in public opinion and the transformation of Americans political consciousness. For instance, Emersons formal protest to the state over the ethnic cleansing in Mississippi shifted public opinion against President Martin Van Buren.

President Jacksons policies did not take cognizance of the Supreme Courts finding that certain policy decrees were illegal and unconstitutional. The ordering of the U.S Marines into east Mississippi, where people of the Cherokee tribe were rounded up and forcibly moved to the west of the state, led Emerson to protest at what he termed a crime that deprived everyone of a country. He passing of the Fugitive Slave Law had profound effects in the all the states, regardless of whether they allowed slavery. The law placed an obligation on all American citizens to help slave owners find fugitive slaves. In effect, the law extended slavery to territories that were initially free. Thoreau wrote on the absurdity of the law when a Massachusetts court of law ordered Marines and the local militia to return a fugitive slave to his master.

Conformity is also exhibited in how people relate in the marketplace or in terms of consumptions. Membership and reference groups include the ranks where individuals belong in society. The reference groups provide people with points for comparing whenever they want to buy goods or services to fit into their consumer habits, lifestyle, desires, and buying behavior. Social groups influence individuals, groups that they do not belong to as they aspire to belong to such groups (Hogg & Turner, 2015). The social factors in reference and social groups play the role of initiating, influencing, and making decisions on what to buy and determining the person to purchase a product.

Family is also the most influencing factor when it comes to social factors as it forms the environment for socializing that evolves, shapes the personality of consumers, and impacts in them, values. It also makes consumers to develop attitudes as well as opinions about goods and services offered by marketers. This is the main reason high performing brands are marketed as family brands in order to create a consumer habit for children and parents to consume those products every other time. The social status and roles depend on the position of individuals in their family, work, social club, or friends through which consumes set attitudes depending on their professional position, family, and gender. The social status reflect the ranks and significance of individual consumers in the society they live, which influences their consuming behavior and buying decisions.

To confirm the above arguments, reference can be made to Solomon Asch, (1951) study in which he sought to examine the degree or extent to which an individual could be forced to conform by a social pressure from a superior or majority group. He found that about 32 percent of the respondents conformed with the wrong answers of the majority but did not actually agree with their answers. Therefore, individuals conform as a result of reasons such as wanting to fit in with the majority or because they of the assumption that the group has better information as compared to them.

References

Asch, S. E. (1951). Studies in the principles of judgments and attitudes: II. Determination of judgments by group and by ego-standards. Journal of Social Psychology, 12, 433465.

Cooper, H. M. (2012). Statistically combining independent studies: A meta-analysis of sex differences in conformity research. Journal of personality and social psychology, 37(1), 131.

Hogg, M. A.; Turner, J. C. (2015). "Social identity and conformity: A theory of referent informational influence". Current issues in European social psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2: 139182.

Perry, G. (2013). "Deception and Illusion in Milgrams Accounts of the Obedience Experiments. Theoretical and Applied Ethics, University of Nebraska Press Volume 2, Number 2, Winter 2013: 82. Accessed October 25, 2016.

Turner, J.C. (2012). "Toward a cognitive redefinition of the social group". Social identity and intergroup relations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University press: 1540.

Waller. J. (2014). "What Can the Milgram Studies Teach Us. Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing. Oxford University Press.