Effect Of Social Influence In Individuals’ Way Of Living

Effect of social influence in individuals’ way of living

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us
most. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous and talented?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - NelsonMandela

Have you ever thought of the greatest person you are? Or of all the amazing qualities you have? Are you proud of whom you are?
We live in a material and superficial world, where people are labeled for what they wear, what they have, or what they do. Sadly but true your social status defines you. People no longer search for values; instead they try to hide them.
People refuse to standout, to be different, to show who they really are. Why? Because they don’t want to be alone. They end up being someone they are not. Trying to fit in to be in. And the saddest part is they sacrifice their happiness at the expense of being accepted. All this is summed up in two simple words: Social influence.
According to a publication on “changing minds” based on the video Milgram, “Socialinfluence is the change in behavior that one person causes in another, intentionally or unintentionally, as a result of the way the changed person perceives themselves in relationship to the influencer, other people and society in general.” As it says you’re influenced by someone´s way of thinking, which is equally based on someone else´s and its on other´s and so on. Leaving aside your truly you.Ending up thinking the way others expect you to think.
We´ve all experienced social influence. It is a reality in our world. I´m not saying you’re wrong for having experienced it, what I want is you to open your eyes, to accept it. Being Wrong is refusing to notice it, as the saying goes: “None So Blind as Those Who Will Not See”. But worst of all is being aware of it but refuse to change.
Anotherfactor involved is peer pressure. According to an article of peer pressure by Parent Further “Peer pressure is the effect the people around you has on your decisions.” An experiment designed my Solomon Asch in 1950; called the Asch experiment, was designed to test the effects of peer pressure over individuals’ judgment. The experiment consisted of perfectly normal people exposed to peer pressurein given tests with clearly obvious answers. The idea was to show if participants would answer with the obviously correct choice or will fall for the pressure of a group, giving as a result incorrect answers.
The experiment consisted in a series of questions, such as which line matched the reference line or which one was the longest, which participants answer. The accomplices gave a series ofcorrect answers to avoid suspicion, but later they added incorrect answers, this allows Solomon Asch to notice how the participant’s answers will be influenced by peer pressure. “The Asch Experiment results were interesting and showed that peer pressure could have a measurable influence on the answers given.” Wrote Martyn Shuttleworth in the article “Asch experiment” publicated in theExperiment-resources web page.
According to the article people who weren’t exposed to peer pressure gave only 1 incorrect response out of 35; which can be explained by experimental error.
Over one third of the individuals belonging to the experimental group gave incorrect answers. “At least 75% of the subjects gave the wrong answer to at least one question”. The experiments also showed that if at least one...