Post #31

Chapter 13

I didn't have to read very far into the chapter to find something of interest, conformity. Conformity refers to the tendency of people to alter their behavior as a result of group pressure. In simpler form it is peer pressure, which is a more universal term. People tend to follow another's example because they do not want to be wrong by not following. An example of conformity is when you go out to eat at a restaurant, everyone in front of you orders water and even though you are craving lemonade you ask for a water as well.

I like to think of myself as a non-conformist, because I do not like to do what everyone else is doing so much that I will go out of of my way to be opposite as someone else. A close friend actually pointed this out to me, because her and myself are complete 180's. It is not as though I flip flop how I feel about something or change my opinion, I just choose to take the road less traveled. For example, when choosing a dress to wear last year for a Youth in Government assembly day, it was a color blocked dress. At this point color blocking was not yet 'in' and since the style has become popular I have not purchased another color blocked outfit. It is not because I do not like the style, I merely just outgrew it.

This weekend I was lucky enough to attend Youth in Government Model Assembly and both of my room mates knew of the elevator study. And so spending four days in a hotel gave us plenty of time to attempt and see the reactions of people in an elevator if we were to turn and face the back wall instead of the door. The first time we did it, we told a few of the guys to turn around with us as we were approaching another floor. The guests walked in, commented on our backs turned but stayed facing the front. Another time, a woman got on, commented on our backs turned, and faced the back wall with us. Both situations were quite humorous to us, and it was interesting to see the action and result first hand.