Is Conformity Easier than Individuality?

Question

I saw an experiment where six people in a room were shown a diagram with different length lines and were asked which line in the group matched the target line. Five of the six were planted by the study and told to choose the wrong line. Each of the people were asked to say out loud which line matched. The Sixth person was unaware that the others were told to give wrong answers. Since this person sat in #5 position, 4 people before him gave incorrect answers. When his turn came, he clearly changed his answer to match the other incorrect answers.

Next they brought in a seventh person who was asked to mark his answers on a clipboard, allowing him anonymity from the group. His answers were not influenced by the group.

Are you an individual able to stand up to the crowd despite the popular opinion? Or do you go along with the crowd because its easier or you aren't confident that you can defend your own opinion?

Answer 1

'Christianity' is the 'Babylon' that YAHOSHUA is calling His followers to 'come out of'.  How many people do you see leaving the heathen Sun worshiping denominations?  Does that answer your question?

Answer 2

Conformity is definitely easier, my friend...........but I have found that it's much more important to keep my individuality by choosing my own way in life..............with the help of Jesus Christ.............

God Bless.................

Answer 3

Yes, it requires THINKING for yourself and taking risks.

Answer 4

It is easier to conform because there is less risk of being shunned or turned out from a community.  If you fit in, people like you.  If you are different, people look at you funny and want nothing to do with you.  

Although, there are others out there like you somewhere.  Bikers hang with Bikers because the Uptights shun them.  The Uptights hang with each other because nobody can stand to be with them but each other.  The criminals usually hang with each other for basically the same reasons.  

but all have conformed in one way or another to fit in with their group.  It takes a brave person to stand on the cliff alone as an individual who doesn't care what society thinks of them

Answer 5

Validity is not numerology.

Truth isn't based on number. Election is the gathering of popular opinion; but not the test of truth.This has always been proved by Democratic countries who casted their votes to a wrong winning candidate. Politicians turned dictators are able to stand up to the crowd; but they're not necessarily inerrant.

One or many is not the test if an opinion can hold water. The test is the validity of the opinion in itself. Therefore, conformity or individuality is not the question; it is validity.  

Answer 6

I like to think of myself as a free thinker, but I do drift with the herd. How I dress, the style of my speech, even my moral code reflect those around me. Just because I question it more than others, doesn't mean I am free of the herd instinct.  

Answer 7

Absolutely!  Otherwise religion wouldn't have the hold it's achieved (ignorance is its best ally)

Answer 8

Far easier to conform than to be an individual.  Humans are pack animals we have a desire to be part of the group.  Also I think in a general aspect the younger you are the harder it is to be individualistic, as you get older most people care less and less what others think.

When i was in high school I wanted to belong to the people around me but never felt like I did and I wasn't willing to compromise my personal moral code to pretend to be like them.  It bothered me a lot then (and the beatings I took from groups of people who couldn't accept people who weren't like them bothered me a lot too.)  After high school and as the years have progressed I care less and less what anyone else thinks and have little or no desire to be part of any group.

I am what I am, if there are others who agree, great, if not oh well no big deal, I still am what I am.

Answer 9

As an agnostic, I am neither theistic nor atheistic. Therefore I can't find refuge in either side. I don't know the statistics, but I'm pretty sure there are even less agnostics than there are atheists.

If 'popular opinion' is choosing a side, then yes, I go against it. I'm willing to admit that I don't know all of the answers. I'm just one person - how can I claim that I know how the universe came to be? How can I claim that a god does or does not exist? Nobody has absolute, concrete-solid proof for one way or the other. To me, choosing a side with this in mind is incredibly ignorant.

If you've found a way that can satisfy you, then congratulations. I guess I just think too much to allow myself to be complacent. =/

Answer 10

I try to not be infuenced by others. I think many people are like sheep and will follow the crowd.