Texts: What do you think about this topic, how would you respond to this? What can you add that might not be mentioned and could be an important part?
Conformity is defined as going along with the crowd (Baumeister, R. F. & Bushman, B. J., 2021). I do remember many times as a child I did things in order to "follow" the crowd, even on things I personally didn't like. I've always felt out of place, being that I'm half Peruvian and half Italian. Being born and raised in America, but at home, I was being raised more on my Spanish heritage. I was technically known as a Hispanic. However, in Peru, I'm known as an American. One can only imagine the confusion this caused because I didn't know what I was in terms of Hispanic or American. I did know I tried my hardest to fit in with the crowd in order to feel like the crowd would end up liking me or considering me as a friend.
Especially in the fourth grade, I remember a popular girl told me and a few other girls to wear matching clothes for a week. She had told us this would make us "popular," and being in the 4th grade and not really having friends, we all listened. I knew as a child I wasn't the skinniest, nor did I have blonde hair. I also felt if I followed the other girls, then they would consider me "white" and allow me to become friends with them. However, when one follows the crowd, this doesn't allow you to be yourself or show them who you are in terms of things you like/dislike. This also leads to trust, which is defined as a strong belief in the reliability and validity of someone or something (Baumeister, R. F. & Bushman, B. J., 2021). Now, when you begin a friendship with a "lie," you will not be a reliable person and considered more like a "wannabe" or "fake."
Society plays a major role in conformity, especially in children, because you want to be liked and have this idea that you have many friends. I wondered why I followed the group if I didn't want to do those things, and to this day, I still analyze these specific situations that occurred when I was younger to get a better understanding of myself.