Topic > Portrayal of Conformity in Friends Television Series

Humans are often portrayed as social beings in need of establishing connections with other individuals whether as partnerships or friendships. And although we constantly try to maintain our individuality and, at times, isolate ourselves from others to avoid "following the herd," our beliefs and behaviors are often influenced by exposure to the actions of others. For example, the connection between teenagers/young adults and social media. Social media consists of influencers, such as Instagram/fitness models or YouTube vloggers, who use their platform to promote certain products including clothing/makeup brands and nutritional supplements, to name a few, and although they are paid primarily to advertise these products, their Followers often do not take this factor into consideration, but pay attention to the constant viewing and positive reviews of these products; as a result, their followers eventually gain a sense of style. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Humans are social creatures who fear being excluded from the social groups they are trying to be a part of. As a result, individuals often fall into conformity, the psychological phenomenon in which individuals tend to change their perceptions, opinions and behavior to fit socially accepted standards. There is an increase in conformity through the pressure often felt by the size of the majority, to explain further, the more individuals within a group agree on a particular topic, the more likely other individuals are to agree because may be perceived as easier to accept. accept rather than be considered an outsider by acting or judging differently. This is typically most effective when we have recognized situational norms, also known as normative social influence. For example, on a study based on littering, developed by Robert Cialdini (2003) and colleagues. The researchers distributed flyers to amusement park visitors in different areas within the park, which varied in the amount of perceived waste, indicating how others had behaved previously, perhaps influencing the behavior of incoming visitors. Consequently, the more waste there was in the section, the more likely visitors were to continue throwing leaflets. In the television series Friends, Rachel starts her new job at Ralph Lauren and, like any new employee, her goal is to convince her boss to like her. He immediately notices a bond between his boss and colleague Nancy, as they share a liking for two different clothing styles. At first, Rachel demonstrates a defiance of conformity as she does not agree with their choice, although she quickly apologizes. The scene then continues with the two taking a cigarette break, her boss asks Rachel if she smokes and she replies no and how her father, who is a doctor, constantly told her horrible stories; once again he apologizes after noticing his boss's stare. She later tells Monica and Chandler that they returned from the smoke break and made the rest of the decisions, explaining that she felt punished for making the decision not to smoke. As she now reconsiders her initial decision, she attempts to justify smoking by wondering what would happen if they continued all the decision making during smoke breaks while she was in her office, and once there was a promotion opportunity the more obvious would be Nancy. The next scene shows Rachel starting to give in to conformity.