Do people often imitate each other automatically and without conflict? Why do television producers insert canned laughs into situation comedies in order to increase viewer responsiveness? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Of course, you don't have to be a social psychologist to realize that we impact everyone's behavior. The question here is how is this possible and with what effect? In this essay, I will discuss the influences that come in different shapes and sizes, the pressures that are placed on a person due to conformity. As social animals, people are vulnerable to influence on each other. We often yawn when we see others yawning and laugh when we hear others laughing. To demonstrate this point, a researcher stopped on a busy New York street and looked up at the sixth-floor window of a nearby building. Films shot behind the window indicated that about 80 percent of passersby stopped and looked up when they saw these researchers looking up. Social psychologists talk about conformity as the tendency of people to change their perceptions, opinions, and behavior in a way that is consistent with group norms. Keeping this definition in mind, one can call oneself a conformist or a nonconformist. Applying this to myself, I have to ask myself a few questions. Do I sometimes feel obligated to follow what others are doing? At first, I might want to deny the tendency toward conformity and, instead, declare my individuality. Have I ever attended a wedding dressed in blue jeans or sat there while my grandparents came into my room? People find it extremely difficult to break social norms. To illustrate this point, in the same book by Milgram & Sabini (1978), social psychology research assistants were supposed to ask subway passengers to give up their seats, which is a clear violation of the norm. However, many researchers were unable to complete their mission. Those who tried this experiment became so anxious that they pretended to be sick just to make their request seem justified. It is obvious that conformism exists in everyone and everywhere. It is interesting but ironic that psychologists who ask researchers to carry out a certain task often do not dare to do it themselves. Instead, they reinterpret the task and rationalize their own behavior as a way of seeing themselves as nonconformist and independent. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay People have mixed feelings of conformity. Regardless, some compliance is necessary if a person needs to coexist peacefully. However, at other times, conformity can have harmful consequences, like smoking among the teenagers at my school or telling offensive jokes because others do the same. What matters to a social psychologist is understanding the conditions under which people follow and the reasons for that particular behavior..