discussion question

informed by social psychology theory and research, please share pressures you have experienced to conform to fashion dictates.

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Gender roles, behaviors, expressions, and differences are fixed by the culture in which one lives. These roles once defined are expected to be followed without violation. Earlier, men were expected to be the masters of the house, society, and politics. They were expected to go out, work, provide and protect he family members. Women were expected to be the servants of men, bear children, raise them and do all the household chores. Men are expected to make their body firm, strong, control emotions, strict etc. and women are expected to be gentle, soft, maintain shyness and not to take-up any hard works. This gives the men a dominant role in the society where they expect the women to be submissive. The words they use, the body language they exhibit, the physical expression they display etc. are set by social norms.

Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms or politics and so one is fashion. Societal, organizational, institutional, and social norms often establish gender differences and researchers have reported differences in the way men and women conform to social influence. Women are more persuadable and more conforming than men in group pressure situations that involve surveillance. This gender difference may be due to different gender roles in society. Women are generally taught to be more agreeable whereas men are taught to be more independent. American culture often stresses the importance of not conforming (Cohen & Varnum, 2016; Kim & Markus, 1999; Kitayama et al., 2009, 2010). Americans picture themselves as a nation of rugged individualists, people who think for themselves, stand up for the underdog, and go against the tide to fight for what they think is right (Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R., 2018)

Several research and theories found that men and women conformed more when there were participants of both genders involved versus participants of the same gender. Subjects in the groups with both genders were more apprehensive when there was a discrepancy among group members, and thus the subjects reported that they doubted their own judgments. It generally arrives due to methodological bias. It is argued that because stereotypes used in studies are generally male ones (sports, cars.) more than female ones (cooking, fashion.), women are feeling uncertain and conformed more, which was confirmed by their results.