Conformity Theory Application Paper
Uploaded by spootyhead on Feb 19, 2007
Conformity Theory Application Paper
Moving to a new place often involves the highest levels of conformity. When you move, you are losing all that you had in the past, and having to fit into a brand new environment that often contains very different people and very different interests. Since we are always trying to feel good about ourselves as people, fitting into the new environment is very important. We use conformity to get this accomplished.
My moving story takes place in the middle of my sixth grade year. I went to a very small elementary school in St. Louis. I had been in the same class with the same group of kids for three years. Socially, I was universally well liked by all in the school. Things were great for me within this environment. Then I moved to Charlotte, NC. This was a very different environment for me. The kids had different interests and there were a lot more of them to fit in with. I immediately felt uncomfortable. So, I began to listen to the kids talk, and there was a universally “cool” thing to do in my new school. Mountain biking was the “in” thing. So, I ran home to my parents and begged for the coolest mountain bike they could get me. I began talking to people about my new wheels, and started to ride more and more. I didn’t necessarily like biking, but it was allowing me to fit in, which was most important.
This story is great when looking at issues of conformity. It deals mostly with normative conformity. Normative conformity is the term used to describe actions that involve trying to be liked by another person or group of people. This matches up well with my story. I decided to start mountain biking because I wanted to fit in and be liked. Specifically, there was some reciprocity involved. I would invite people over to a trail behind my house quite often. The goal behind that was to get them to invite me over at a later date. This is a good example of reciprocity. I wasn’t inviting these kids over because I was in love with the trail, but because I wanted to go over to their houses sometime. My story...