We as human beings are advocates of individualism, distinctiveness, and uniqueness. Because of this, we are very defensive when dispelling ideas concerning how we have conformed. Believe it or not, conformity is existent within the mindsets and physical depictions of us all. Conformity is how we are able to control urges in public space, as well as how we are able to identify with individuals from a similar cultural background. It is how we guide our social interactions with others so that we may be able to communicate successfully and provide our life with a purpose. The two sides to be discussed in this article are the psychological perspective and the sociological perspective. Exploring the roles your mind plays in conformity, along with the roles your social interactions play.
The Psychological PerspectiveBefore analyzing the true source of conformity found in studies of sociological circumstances, it is imperative that we first assess the psychology involved. One may think that it is effortless to draw conclusions concerning your own behavior, but the fact of the matter is that we are very inaccurate in analyzing ourselves. There are many factors that we can attribute towards this imprecision. One factor is overconfidence. When analyzing ourselves by utilizing our intuition, we often draw conclusions that tend to be more confident than they are correct. Another factor is that we often misread our own minds. When asked why we do the things we do, we often conclude a false assessment. If we can not even answer questions about ourselves on a personal level, how shall we then be expected to answer questions on a social interpersonal level? How can we properly assess conformity if it is impossible to precisely pinpoint the source? The first step lies in recognizing the inconsistencies between your intuition and reality. Many people are under the assumption that their intuition is a peril free powerful tool, when in actuality it has both powers and perils. The perils such as illusory correlation, belief perseverance, the fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias, hindsight bias, and many other factors must be acknowledged first in order to have a serious discussion with your psyche.
Switching gears, you next must make sure you are in the proper mindset. The two mindsets are the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. When analyzing issues concerning conformity you must make certain that you are in the growth mindset. The shoddier fixed mindset will make you draw conclusions and unconsciously slip into a severe state of conformity. In the fixed mindset, we tend to take situational circumstances and formulate them into lifelong labels. For instance, if we attempt to complete something and fail, an individual in the fixed mindset will label themselves as a failure in that field for the remainder of their life. We conclude it is not for us because we can not effortlessly succeed. In actuality, life is not about effortlessly succeeding. Life is about using your effort, determination, and drive in order to grow towards your achievement potential. In the fixed mindset, you will stunt personal growth and conform to the perceptions that other people have acquired about you. You essentially prove those individuals who labeled you correct and truthful. You conform to your low expectations, but don’t fall victim to believing that low expectations are the only route to conformity and content, because positive labels can have a similar effect in the fixed mindset. If you are perceived as gifted in an aspect of your life, the fixed mindset will have you validating your giftedness with trivial and effortless tasks, because you are afraid to fail. You are afraid that the observance of effort will dispel your intelligence. So instead, you conform to complacency and a lack of progression. In the growth mindset, you see your failures as learning experiences, making it easy for future progression and defiance to the conformity principals adored by those embodying a fixed mindset. The growth mindset teaches you that you are not defined by stereotypes, failures, or initial ability. It teaches you to fight conformity, which is detrimental to growth and personal development.
The Sociological PerspectiveFrom a sociological standpoint, we are able to view and asses the area of conformity that is most visible. That is, the visual manifestation of social experiences and situations. Though conformity has been mentioned thus far in a negative light, it is important to note that our mission is not to completely abolish conformity, but more accurately to pinpoint it before it erupts into an ethnocentric frenzy. Ethnocentrism involves using the tendencies of your affiliated sociological group as a yard stick for judging those in outside sociological groups. In other words, though we understand that we all come from different backgrounds and origins, we still look upon our own upbringing as what is normal. We judge the cultural norms surrounding other cultures based on the assumption that ours is superior. We don’t seem to come to the realization that we have conformed to our surroundings, and that our reasons for completing most tasks lies in our sociological circumstances. Our reasons do not lie in natural instincts to behave or conduct ourselves in a particular manner. The problem with conformity is that many aspects go unseen and unnoticed; so they are unaddressed. When placed in a certain sociological environment, one is often ridiculed and mocked for ignoring the cultural norms. This forces the individual to either conform or be cast away from society. Those who are cast away from society slip under the radar as irrelevant and trivial beings.
Conformity becomes dangerous when we neglect to acknowledge its presence, and often attribute false reasoning toward different events. Once we realize that conformity is more nurture than it is nature, we are able to properly analyze our lives. Being born in different sociological environments severely and indefinitely effects our morals, ideals, and to an extent, our opinions. Even those who consider themselves rebellious of society and traditions have still conformed to the rebellion. They have conformed to the ideal of questioning in order to oblige reason. They asses their situation and decide upon how one who is rebellious is believed to act in public space in order to publicize his/her intentions. This means they still must analyze the ideals of the culture in which they are rebelling against. In a race not to conform, they are simply welcoming conformity with a different name. We must realize that the solution to conformity is not to fight it, but rather to understand it. Understanding conformity in your life and the lives of others will essentially give you the upper hand in social interaction, as well as provide your mind with peace and tranquility.
Common Ground: The MaskSo where does the common ground lie? The common ground lies in a fictitious mask that is worn by many members of society. Understanding the mask involves combining your psychological inconsistencies and intentions, with your sociological circumstances and interactions. When you understand how to formulate your mask correctly, you are not simply conforming out of ignorance or unconsciously. When you understand the mask, you formulate your mask to consciously and accurately make social interactions as successful as possible. From the psychological perspective, you can soak up all the knowledge that is necessary in order to enhance personal psychological growth, but without the ability to translate that into social intercourse it is meaningless. You can recognize the perils in your intuition, but that doesn’t mean you can socially correct them. You can apply the growth mindset toward practical personal use, but that doesn’t make it certain that society will accept you. So why do you need society to accept you? The concrete answer is you don’t. The intangible realization is that without a strong connection with society, you limit your life’s purpose. What good will bettering your own psyche serve if you don’t have the ability to persuade and steer others toward the proper direction? A premature version of your mask does not have emotion, and is almost a direct imitation of society. As you allow your mask to evolve, it will emerge from an imitation to a personalized depiction. Eventually, your mind and state of being will reach a point of ultimate delight and bliss. This point occurs when your mask becomes you; when your sociological expectations and psychological manifestations are able to co-exist without conflict or debacle. This is not a place of complete conformity, but simply a place of understanding and reasoning. The process is not overnight, and could take years upon years of observation and meditation, but the end result will be a life full of understanding, reasoning, and most of all… purpose.
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