Assignment 1: Discussion

During Module 4, we examine why most people tend to conform in most of their social interactions, while others deviate from the existing social norms. After you have read the reading assignment and lecture for this module, please respond to all parts of the discussion.

1. Why do people sometimes feel that they need to socially conform to what is going on around them, even if they do not want to do so?

2. How do the social institutions of our country (e.g., schools, the healthcare system, the economy, religious organizations) play a role in encouraging social conformity, as well as social deviance?

3. In reviewing the following video "Solomon Asch's Conformity Experiment Today" at http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/solomon-aschs-conformity-experiment-today/, describe why the individuals in the Asch experiment usually gave the same answer when they probably knew that it was wrong.