The concept of conformity is explored through various quotations and references to psychological experiments. Courage is juxtaposed with conformity, suggesting that following the crowd can be seen as a lack of bravery.
The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow. -Jim Hightower
Personal
I've seen many of my friends go to college because "that's the thing you do after high school." For some of them, it was not the right choice. If they had really thought it through themselves, instead of listening to others, they could have saved time (and money) by following their passion.
I'm sad to see some of my old friends are starting to give in to peer pressure and have begun drinking (a lot!).
I'll admit I'm one of the first to purchase the newest tech gadgets. That's a trend I always fall for.
Scientific / Health
Stanford Prison Experiment
http://www.prisonexp.org/
The controversial experiment at Stanford - when participants assigned as "guards" became too violent to the "prisoners", the study was shut down after five days. Yet another example of "following the crowd" gone wrong.
The Asch Conformity Experiment
http://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html
In 1951, Solomon Asch conducted an experiment to observe what effect group pressure would have on participants. When a group of confederates gave an incorrect answer, a surprising 75% of participants changed their answer to match the group's (even when they knew it was wrong!). Read more at the link above.
Historical
German soldiers in WWII. It's still astonishing today how millions of people followed one man's direction to create one of the most horrific events in our history.
Entertainment
Be sharp!
"Whether life's disabilities
Left you outcast, bullied or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today
'Cause baby, you were born this way" -Lady Gaga
An old "Candid Camera" prank that demonstrates how people are easily pressured to conform to a group. Worth a watch & good for a laugh!
Literary
T.C. Boyle's short story, "Greasy Lake," is an example of a night that turns disastrous for three teenage boys because they wanted to be "bad" guys. Read the original or watch a short film adaptation above.
Beauteous Individuality
Thou in truth shouldest be one, yet not with the whole shouldest thou be so.
'Tis through the reason thou'rt one, -art so with it through the heart.
Voice of the whole is thy reason, but thou thin own heart must be ever;
If in thy heart reason dwells evermore, happy art thou.
-Friedrich von Schiller
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
from The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost
Quotables
Group conformity scares the pants off me because it's so often a prelude to cruelty towards anyone who doesn't want to - or can't - join the Big Parade.
-Bette Midler
The supreme lesson of any education should be to think for yourself and to be yourself; absent this attainment, education creates dangerous, stupefying conformity.
-Bryant H. McGill
-Rita Mae Brown
Political
-John F. Kennedy, in an address to the United Nations
Text Support
"The terrible tyranny of the majority." -Faber
"...We're going to build a mirror factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them." -Granger
"We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against." -Captain Beatty
