Social and Personality Development, Essay Example

Time and again, it has been proven that the vast majority of individuals seek acceptance from others. More than often, this may force certain people into choosing a certain path that they dislike just to get a certain group of people to like that individual. The question that is brought forth, then is as follows: At what cost would individuals accept that they are wrong and conform to a certain group’s expectations just to be able to fit in?

 The question that is brought forth deals with two types of conformity: being liked and being right. The latter deal with the underlying fact that individuals find genuine gratitude in belonging to a certain group of individuals. This is especially proven by certain people who are looking for a sense of identity. Attaining a level of being liked by many people is something that numerous individuals choose to achieve no matter what. This means that individuals may sometimes superficially agree without someone or something that is said for the sake of not going against the popular vote.

 On the contrast, there are those individuals who choose to be right as opposed to being liked by everyone. What this means in many cases is that individuals might say certain things that they strongly believe in despite the fact that they know that no one will like what is being said. These kinds of individuals find conformity within themselves, for they do not find the need to be liked by everyone in order to be truly content. Being right deals with the individual finding self-gratification by proving himself correct all of the time.

 Truly, no type of conformity has proven more effective in recent years. Both have their positive aspects as well as their negative aspects. There is no real way of telling which method should be used because of the fact that so many individuals react differently to various kinds of scenarios.

References

Shaffer, D. (1988). Social and personality development (2nd ed.). Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Pub.