①People generally would adopt two kinds of self-concepts: the interdependent self-concept and the independent self-concept. The two concepts can coexist. Different self-concepts are associated with distinctive cognitive processes, and information will be presented and retrieved differently in memories. For the interdependent mode, people fall in to the category tend to relate themselves to others and prefer to make choices that will help to maintain harmony in a social group. In comparison, independent individuals are more self-focused and are more capable of withstanding social pressure. Carlos J. Torelli’s journal article has demonstrated the impact of different self-concepts and accountability on people’s choices of behaviors and even their…show more content… It focuses on individuality and conformity, a semi-strong form of social influence. We have learned in class that conformity refers to when people adjust their behaviors to bring in agreement with the opinions of others. Most of our daily activities are affected by conformity. For instance, consumers tend to buy products of a popular brand, and group members of a social group tend to reveal similar opinions. Many of the influences of conformity are shown in the Asch Experiment, where people would deny their own perception to cater for norms established by the social group they belong to. Norms are widely accepted unspoken standard for behaviors and thoughts in a social group. Members under strong group pressure constantly feel the need to conform to group norms. Torelli conducted two experiments in his study. In his experiments, subjects are randomly chosen to be primed with either interdependence or dependence. The major experimental group will then be divided into two other subgroups, where subjects will either informed to have to share their opinions on different products with others or anonymously. Subjects from the first experiment will rate on the physical risk of taking an allergy drug with lots of benefits and side effects as well. While the second experiments requires the subject to rate on the financial risk of purchasing an expensive camera…show more content… Recently, I found conformity very distasteful. Many people of our age have lost the ability to think independently. It has become trending to follow directions and what the majority of people. When I was building robots in one of my science classes, all of the people in my group were equally confused. However, no one would like to try out different approaches by themselves but to wait for the teacher to inform them what to do next. Similarly, I was having a debate with one of friends about people’s activities on social media. People would leave all forms of complementary comments under posts they do not necessarily like. Moreover, people who share their very honest opinions in public are usually regarded as being abnormal or weird. Torelli’s experiment in fact has shown another fascinating result: people who are primed with interdependence doling no accountability will not affected by the common beliefs just as those who are primed the dependent self-concepts. That is to say, if an individual’s opinion can be held private without having to be explained to others, he or she will follow his or her personal belief instead of conforming. It can inferred from the result people are inherently idiocentric, yet most of them would put on a fake layer in public to please other people. However, the common beliefs are not always right or as creative as everyone’s unique personal belief. It is undeniable that
