Do people think I am cool enough? How do I become more like the popular kids in school? I know you all will not be surprised when I say that these thoughts go through a large number of high school students heads a day. Everyone at least once in their lives have had these thoughts or similar thoughts about being accepted run across their minds. People try and change themselves to become more like the popular kids in their school because they believe that is the only way to be liked by others. This concept is known as conformity. Conformity is the tendency to change perceptions, opinions, or behaviors in ways that are consistent with group norms (Kassin 2016). I have decided to take a look at the movie Mean Girls to demonstrate this concept seen in high schools.
Teenager Cady Heron was a home-school student who moved from Africa to the United States. She is able to experience public school for the first time in her life and learn all the new tricks and tips to get her through the school year. She first meets Janis and Damian who give her the run-down on all the various cliques at the school and then they proceed to warn her about the top clique of the school, the "plastics". This group of girls is run by the one and only, Regina George. The plastics grow an interest in Cady and start to hangout with her more and teach her their ways. Janis realizes this and figures out a devious plan to break-up the "plastics" once and for all. Janis, Damian, and Cady come up with ways to conflict drama within the group such as; telling one of them Regina didn't want them to hang out with the rest of the group, giving Regina carb bars and telling her they would make her lose weight when they are used to do the opposite, and other things as well. Unfortunately as Cady is hanging around the "plastics" more, she gets drawn into their ways and starts acting just like them. Cady changes her individual personality and remakes herself in the image of Regina.
Even though this movie is very over-dramatic, these types of situations do occur in high schools around the world. Possibly not to this extent, but there are individuals who change their whole appearance and beliefs just to be part of a group. Two things that are present within this film are private and public conformity. Private conformity is the change in both overt behavior and beliefs and public conformity is the superficial change in overt behavior only (Kassin 2016). The clip below demonstrates Cady showing private conformity because of the changes in personality she shows from her initial character in the beginning. DISCLAIMER THERE IS A SWEAR WORD!
Prior to this clip, Cady decides to throw a party because her parents will be gone for the night. She only invites people who she deemed "suitable" or people she thinks are well liked in the school. She even goes as far as not inviting Janis and Damian because they are seen as the "unpopular kids". At the end of this scene, Cady is starting to realize that she has lost her true identity throughout the whole process of hanging out with the "plastics". Her former self would have never thrown a party against her parents wishes and she would have been accepting of everyone and not just the popular kids at school.
In the clip above, this shows how public conformity is being displayed. As you can see, Cady is wearing a baggy pink polo. One of the rules of the "plastics" is that they only wear pink on Wednesdays. Unfortunately, Cady forgets to wear pink and has to ask Damian for one of his pink shirts so that she is able to sit with the "plastics" at lunch. Going along with this, Gretchen is explaining all the others rules that Cady has to follow in order to be a part of their clique. Even though this is just out right crazy to have this many rules to be a part of a "friend" group, it does show how people conform just to fit in.
What makes people conform to such a degree that they change their whole appearance just to be a part of a group? Sometimes teenagers show what is called informational influence, which is when people conform just because they believe others are correct in their judgement (Kassin 2016). When teenagers go from being the top dogs at middle school to the bottom of the totem pole, some do their best to do whatever they can to fit in and be popular. To the individuals who rely on fitting in with the cool kids, they think that whatever those kids are doing, is the right thing to do. If they wear certain clothes or behave in a certain way, these kids who are trying to fit in will mimic them in whatever they are doing.
Like I had stated in the beginning of this post, Mean Girls is an exaggerated version of conformity seen within high schools around the world, but these exaggerated scenes do have underlying meanings. Teenagers do conform to fit in with the popular kids in school because they want to be accepted and they believe that the way these kids act, is the way they have to be just to hang around with them and be liked. Have you had any experiences with popular cliques in school? Or have you ever had these feelings of wanting to be accepted within the "popular group"? I realize that not everyone had these types of feelings in high school, but I am just curious to see if any of you have seen this within the schooling systems and have any input that you would like to add. If so, let me know!
References
Kassin, S. Social Psychology. [Chegg]. Retrieved from https://ereader.chegg.com/#/books/9781305888340/
Teenager Cady Heron was a home-school student who moved from Africa to the United States. She is able to experience public school for the first time in her life and learn all the new tricks and tips to get her through the school year. She first meets Janis and Damian who give her the run-down on all the various cliques at the school and then they proceed to warn her about the top clique of the school, the "plastics". This group of girls is run by the one and only, Regina George. The plastics grow an interest in Cady and start to hangout with her more and teach her their ways. Janis realizes this and figures out a devious plan to break-up the "plastics" once and for all. Janis, Damian, and Cady come up with ways to conflict drama within the group such as; telling one of them Regina didn't want them to hang out with the rest of the group, giving Regina carb bars and telling her they would make her lose weight when they are used to do the opposite, and other things as well. Unfortunately as Cady is hanging around the "plastics" more, she gets drawn into their ways and starts acting just like them. Cady changes her individual personality and remakes herself in the image of Regina.
Even though this movie is very over-dramatic, these types of situations do occur in high schools around the world. Possibly not to this extent, but there are individuals who change their whole appearance and beliefs just to be part of a group. Two things that are present within this film are private and public conformity. Private conformity is the change in both overt behavior and beliefs and public conformity is the superficial change in overt behavior only (Kassin 2016). The clip below demonstrates Cady showing private conformity because of the changes in personality she shows from her initial character in the beginning. DISCLAIMER THERE IS A SWEAR WORD!
Prior to this clip, Cady decides to throw a party because her parents will be gone for the night. She only invites people who she deemed "suitable" or people she thinks are well liked in the school. She even goes as far as not inviting Janis and Damian because they are seen as the "unpopular kids". At the end of this scene, Cady is starting to realize that she has lost her true identity throughout the whole process of hanging out with the "plastics". Her former self would have never thrown a party against her parents wishes and she would have been accepting of everyone and not just the popular kids at school.
What makes people conform to such a degree that they change their whole appearance just to be a part of a group? Sometimes teenagers show what is called informational influence, which is when people conform just because they believe others are correct in their judgement (Kassin 2016). When teenagers go from being the top dogs at middle school to the bottom of the totem pole, some do their best to do whatever they can to fit in and be popular. To the individuals who rely on fitting in with the cool kids, they think that whatever those kids are doing, is the right thing to do. If they wear certain clothes or behave in a certain way, these kids who are trying to fit in will mimic them in whatever they are doing.
Like I had stated in the beginning of this post, Mean Girls is an exaggerated version of conformity seen within high schools around the world, but these exaggerated scenes do have underlying meanings. Teenagers do conform to fit in with the popular kids in school because they want to be accepted and they believe that the way these kids act, is the way they have to be just to hang around with them and be liked. Have you had any experiences with popular cliques in school? Or have you ever had these feelings of wanting to be accepted within the "popular group"? I realize that not everyone had these types of feelings in high school, but I am just curious to see if any of you have seen this within the schooling systems and have any input that you would like to add. If so, let me know!
References
Vault, T. P. (2017, July 11). Retrieved March 07, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ahmLuuQNKg
Movieclips. (2011, October 06). Retrieved March 07, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT8wMBeVffk&t=1s
Kassin, S. Social Psychology. [Chegg]. Retrieved from https://ereader.chegg.com/#/books/9781305888340/
This is a great post and provides many examples that fit the definition of conformity perfectly. I like how you used Mean Girls as an example. The whole entire movie is an example of conformity. I think the reason this movie fits in so well is that Cady, who devises a plan to stop the conformity of the plastics actually ends up becoming one of them and falls into which she devised to stop. I think that conformity goes on in every high school and middle school on the planet. Most people want to feel popular or liked by others, or have at some point, and will go to extreme ends to conform to that. The high school I attended was notorious for cliques. All the people who played sports were conformed together, the band members were conformed together, etc.. It is kind of scary to look back and realized that you were apart of something like that.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly why I picked this movie because it just works so well with the concept of conformity. Like I had mentioned in my blog post this movie does take it over the top, but like you had mentioned there are kids that will go to the extreme just to fit in and feel liked. My high school was the same way and I have a feeling a lot of other high schools are like that as well. You would walk into the doors and just see all the different cliques and everyone gathered up in their groups. It is crazy to think a lot of people just stick to one friend group throughout high school and never branch out.
DeleteI agree as well, the high school I attended had the same thing happen, you could walk down the halls and everyone would be in their own little groups as well. It really is crazy, especially because people feel like they are left out and have no friends. I fell like the people that do not branch out will have such personality struggles later on in life. It is hard to make new friends when you have no idea how to do so.
DeleteNice post! I agree with you about this movie being an exaggeration of what reality might be, but I definitely think that has its uses. I think its kind of like health screenings used in personal training and such where the trainer has the client perform greatly exaggerated movements, knowing that these movements will make any flaws in technique or movement capabilities much more glaring. A movie like this can have the same effect, while the actions in the movie might be a little over the top, they can help us see similar problems in the real world.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jake! I really like what you said in your comment and relating it to personal training. This movie does take it over the top, but yes it does show underlying problems seen in the real world. After writing this blog post and learning more about conformity, it got me to wonder what things we could do in order to help conformity in the world today. I feel like it is always going to be around, but maybe there could be ways where we can lessen the amount. Have any ideas?
DeleteHuh, I guess I don't have much for ideas that I feel are actually practical to helping solve the problem, most things I'm coming up with are a little to idealistic. I think what you could do is just try to bring attention to the issue, and encourage people not to make masks for themselves, just be the same person all the time. While I feel like that sort of message would just go unnoticed for the most part, it would probably stick with at least a few people, and I guess thats better than none!
DeleteI think that regardless of the trivial group pressures, conformity in social environments in youth could be more than we think. Aside from a desire to fit in, the question "where do I fit in, what best defines me?" is something that, at least stereotypically, many people in high school and young adulthood struggle with. I'm not entirely sure what to think of informational influence, at least in the high school setting, given by nature it's something they must choose to agree with or see as rational. In that sense, it's not always a good thing--someone's mentality might lead them to be influenced (informationally) to do something that's ultimately harmful to them. But I suppose that the terminology in that context doesn't really matter.
ReplyDeleteThe use of mean girls definitely was well-chosen, given that (and forgive me, it's been a long time since I've seen it) it does provide very clear examples of these things.
I agree with what you said about how the youth questions where they fit in best or what defines them. Going into high school you want to be with people who you feel the most conformable with and usually that results in being in different cliques. Like Joe had mentioned in his comment, you have people that are in sports who hang out together and also band members hanging with each other and other groups. There are those select few that want to fit in with the popular group. That is where I was coming from with the informational influence. I was looking at it as a kid changing their ways because they believe that is what's right. So if a certain trend comes out and the popular kids are doing it, then they might do it too because they think it is the right thing to do.
DeleteI've never seen "Mean Girls" myself, though I do find the contrast between what you described in the movie and my personal high school experience rather interesting. I, like Cady, was home schooled until high school (okay, 8th grade in my case, but the point still stands). However, I went to a smaller school (the average graduation size was about 90 each year) than the one in the movie, so there were far fewer cliques that stood out. For the most part, almost everyone knew everyone else, so it wasn't unusual to see people flow from one friend group to another. As such, I didn't feel as pressured to fit in with any particular group of friends, but more so my class in general. Even then, I didn't succumb to peer pressure very much at all. If anything, I started to swear every now and then, just because I thought it'd be perceived as "cool," since a good chunk of my classmates did. Once I realized it wasn't making any notable difference in how my friends perceived me though, I stopped, because it wasn't really something I would've done otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting hearing from your point of view since you were home-schooled as well, like the main character was in Mean Girls. I do wonder what would have happened if you went to a bigger high school with a variation of cliques, not saying you would give into any peer pressure but just to see if the difference in the number of students would have changed anything for you. I feel like in every high school you are going to see the different cliques because people just want to hang out with people similar to them. Every high school is going to be different though depending on if they have a smaller class like yours and everyone knows each other or a bigger class like I had experienced in my school. I look back on it now and realize that I didn't know a lot of people in my class because I just never talked with them or associated myself with their group. I wish I had an experience like yours where people would just flow between friend groups because I feel like you would make more connections that way. Do you have any thoughts on any differences you would have seen throughout your life in high school if you went to a bigger school?
DeleteAdam, I can relate to some of your experience as a home schooled kid myself (5th - 8th grade). Going to a high school with a fewer amount of students (35 average graduating class) yielded opposite results for me though. Everyone in a graduating class knew everybody. I was an outsider coming into a class that had grown up together since pre-school, and let's just say that people don't take well to "outsiders." Do you feel that your homeschool experience gave you a well understood sense of who you are and enabled you to have lessened affect of the high school conformity?
DeleteAs all stated above, I love the use of mean girls as an example. Yes, I think it is blown out of proportion but I also feel it is necessary in order to get your point across to kids and even parents who may not see the reality of the "phases" that kids and young adults go through. A lot of times that is just a parents excuse for their kid acting differently than normal, "oh its just a phase," when in reality there kid could be conforming to the same behavior as their peers. As for the point you made about informational influence, I think that goes right along with everyone, not just teenagers. Often times when people get new jobs or meet a gf/bf parents they may act a certain way to fit in and help give off a better first impression. This is not necessarily a bad thing to do to an extent but can be if you put yourself in the wrong situation and surround yourself with the wrong people.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point you made about kids going through "phases". When looking at a certain individuals in high school, there "acting out" could be due to the people they surround themselves with. If they see them doing something that might not necessarily be good but they might just go and do it because they want to fit in with their peers. This kind of goes along with the saying, "if your friend jumped off a cliff would you?", some people would answer yes because they might be so roped into their clique that they see that being the right thing to do. I also like your point about seeing this in the world other than high school. Some people do put on a face just to impress certain people and it may help them but it could also hurt them later on. How far do you think people would go to conform to their group?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI do not think their is a limit to anyone as to how far they would conform to their group. Every individual is so complex that they can and will react differently than the next guy so I can't answer that directly. However, I do feel that each person has their own "limit." What I mean is that when I was younger if my friends were doing something stupid but it looked fun I might have joined in because you want to share those laughs and memories with them. However, my mom has asked that very question of "If they jumped off a bridge, would you?" and I obviously answered "NO!" My point is though, that some kids, especially nowadays will go to those lengths to be accepted and you have seen it in the stories of little kids hurting themselves or others to be accepted by a mythical creature called the "Slender Man." I will leave a link here about the story if you would like to read about it. It is really quite interesting.
Deletehttps://www.thedailybeast.com/murder-for-a-meme-the-horrifying-story-of-two-12-year-old-girls-who-tried-to-kill-for-slenderman
It is scary to think some kids will go to a crazy extent just to feel part of something, but sadly nowadays that’s being seen more in high school. Thanks for the link, it was a very interesting read and A very crazy example of extreme conformity.
DeleteI don't think you could have chosen a better movie to demonstrate conformity. I have not seen this movie in forever so I'm glad you added some clips from the movie. Do you think that once Cady became part of the plastics that the reason it took her so long to realize what she was doing and who she had become was because of normative influence?
ReplyDeleteWhen I looked into conformity more, the first thing that popped into my head was this movie, so I’m glad I got to write about it! When looking at the concept of normative influence I think Cady did demonstrate that. I think at first she wanted to be loyal to her two first friends and stick with the plan of breaking up the plastics, but once she got deeper into the plan, she wanted to them feel let in by the plastics. So there was that sense of wanting to fit in but also not wanting to upset anyone.
DeleteThis blog was very insightful and made me think back to my middle and high school days. It is interesting to look on the outside now as my little sister just started high school this year. She is always trying to post the most instagram pictures with the most likes and always has to keep up on the trends of high school to feel like she fits in. When I went home for Christmas, she got these shoes that I thought were pretty different. She was so excited and proceeded to say, "Now I will not be the only one who does not have these". I personally think she did not even like the shoes, but did this just to feel "popular". I think as we grow up, we tend to not care as much as being in the "popular group". I definitely still care what people think about me, but compared to high school I am much less concerned of changing my attitudes or behaviors just to be like other people. Does anybody else feel like they have changed in this aspect after high school too?
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel I have, I think its because of the freedom we now have. In high school and even your first year of college you are around the same people all the time whether its in your classes in high school or in the dorms in college. What's different about college is you've picked a major you enjoy for the most part which means your going to find people who have similar interests without compromising yourself and you are able to decide whether or not you want to be friends with them. Same thing if you don't choose to go to college you choose what job you apply for, where you want to go, who you keep in touch with, etc. I think this freedom allows us to be more confident in ourselves and figure out the type of people we want to be.
DeleteI agree, Hali! Especially in going to a small school, when you grow up with the same group of people, or even just a smaller group of people, the pressure to not be excluded socially from that sized group is very high. Part of it also may be just getting older and realizing that everyone else's opinions don't always matter as much as they seem to in high school. Once you start opening up to the possibilities surrounding what you really enjoy and want to do in life and stop trying to fit in so much, everything starts to feel a lot easier.
DeleteGreat post! Everything you and everyone else has said about conformity at the high school level is very accurate in my experiences as well. I have been coaching middle school girls basketball for the last 3 years, and I have seen many examples of conformity occurring even at this age. These girls are coming from elementary school into middle school, and this is a lot bigger jump than I remember it being. In elementary school, there really isn't a lot of pressure to be "cool". Everyone has their own niche, and everyone usually has their own small group of friends. Once middle school hits, that seems to be where the pressure to be fit in really starts. Maybe it's being in the same building as all of the middle and high school students and having so many older kids around, or having many new opportunities to join new or more sports and clubs. The basketball season starts in August, usually a week or two before school starts, and ends in October. Because the school is so small, 6th graders (still in elementary school) are allowed to play up on the 7th grade team. The last few years I have started out with many different personalities, interests, and attitudes, and usually by the end of the year all of the girls dress, act, and talk similar to one another, and the desire to fit in and be accepted among their peers is extremely obvious. A few strong personalities usually stand out and start to set the trend for what is "cool", and by the end of the season just about all of the younger girls have started following their leads.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting to hear about your personal experience. Looking back at my life, I definitely think middle school is when I started to care about fitting in. It is weird to me to think of middle schoolers having their own phone and using social media. I did not get a phone until I was in high school, so I did not have to worry about fitting in on social media that early. With your middle school basketball team, do you notice them on their phone a lot or snapchatting? I always seem to find very young people using social media and posting a lot to gain approval. I think this added pressure of not only fitting in at school but also in the social media world adds to the stress of fitting in. I also wonder if the use of social media has led to more conformity in order to be "popular". Thanks for sharing!
DeleteI agree with you both that middle school was where a lot of the conformity started within groups. I also started caring more about what people thought of me and how I dressed in middle school just so I could feel “cool”. One thing I do find interesting is seeing middle schoolers now compared to back when we were at that age. Honestly, looking back at pictures and seeing the clothes I wore then and seeing what middle schoolers nowadays wear is just mind boggling to me! I mean they are wearing crop tops and tight fit clothing, but I literally looked like I was wearing a table cloth some days. I think social media has a lot to do with it, because you do see a lot of young kids having phones and different social media accounts, especially Snapchat and instagram. Middle school is just the beginning stages and then once high school hits, I feel like that is where conformity takes off in my opinion.
DeleteIn my experience, my high school was rather small, however, conformity was still a seen throughout the grades. I has a few friends of whom had their own groups and I would kind of bounce around from one to the next. From being in clubs to sports to friends I grew up with. Looking back on my high school days My personality didn't change when I would hangout with one group compared to any others which is pretty cool that I was able to be myself around anyone.
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool David! You honestly don’t see a lot of that these days. I feel like a lot of people will put on a face for whatever group they are a part of. I know for me personally, I am like you and act myself around anyone, but I do know people who change their ways just to fit in. I saw it more in middle and high school, but I even see it now in college. I think conformity isn’t seen a whole lot after people graduate school, but there are still those people who want to be at the top of their workplace or whatever group they are a part of.
DeleteI definitely found myself acting according to the culture of the group I was in in high school. I think this is part of human nature and the need to belong but also it was just convenient. I floated between "cool", "nerd", and "outcast" groups throughout high school and if I acted the exact same way I wouldn't have maintained my status in each of those groups. This has been really interesting in my interactions with Pavlis Honors College. A large portion of their mission is related to the idea of Knowing Yourself. While it is difficult to look at my life objectively, it helps establish a more firm and stable idea of self.
Delete