If you’re like me, then learning about conformity and
dissent could make you think of nothing else than the awkward, hormone-fueled
mine field that is junior high. Conformity,
or the tendency for people to match their perceptions, opinions and behavior to
reflect group norms at either an internal or external level (Sherif, 1936), is
the main goal of many sweaty preteens who are usually more concerned with the
prospect of “social suicide” than the content of their next exam. That’s not a
value judgment, because I was there too once, just like the rest of you. I was
short, pudgy, pimply, shy…ok, yes, screw you guys. I know there’s not much of a
difference between then and now, so let’s pretend you never noticed any of
those things about me and let’s move on.
Although twelve-year-old Kasey was nonexistent on the social
map, she was still a bit of a bad ass. The one place I ever had dominion in
that bizarre, gangster/hick abomination I called a hometown was the classroom.
I had very little influence in the social sphere of school life, but when it
came to intellectual or academic sphere I became the deciding minority influence (De Dreu & De
Vries, 2001; Hollander, 1985; Maass & Clark, 1984; Moscovici et al., 1985;
Mugny & Perez, 1991). As a minority influence, I would actively voice my
dissent from whatever the popular opinion of the group seemed to be and in so
doing I began to produce change from within the group itself. First, the
teacher would pose trick questions with only one correct answer to the class
and I would be the only one to disagree with the class’ answer. Originally,
this would earn me hateful glances until about the sixth or seventh time that I
was correct. Then others began to take notice.
Eventually, I came to be accepted as an influential figure
on intellectual questions that had no clear answer as well. The process was
slow, and depended entirely upon the style in which I presented both my answer
and myself. It’s a very tricky business to dissent from hormonal preteens, many
of which were in the process of being beaten into gangs or were already running
drugs by that time. Things can turn very violent, very quickly if someone so
much as THINKS they perceive an insult. My style was effective because I was
quiet but always firm and confident in my own answer without being judgmental
of others. I would concede what good points so-and-so had made, present counter
evidence that was factual but supported my own opinion, and end with “what do
y’all think?” The trick was to be consistent in the style of my answer (being
correct when possible always helped), modest (but never to the point of
self-effacement or I would seem insincere), and play to my strengths (use the
baby-face to play up how sweet, shy and genuine I am.)
Try my fool-proof method, and maybe someday you too can
manipulate gang-bangers in to loving you for disagreeing with them.*
*Snooty, intellectual, hipster types please don’t try this.
If you do, know that I warned you and am not responsible when you get yo’ ass
beat.
(n = 535)
References
De Dreu, C., & De Vries, N. (Eds.). (2001). Group consensus and minority influence:
Implications
for innovation. London: Blackwell.
Hollander, E. P. (1985). Leadership and power. In G. Lindzey
& E. Aronson (Eds.),
Handbook
of social psychology (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 485–537). New York: Random
House.
Maass, A., & Clark, R. D., III. (1984). Hidden impact of
minorities: Fifteen years of
minority influence research. Psychological Bulletin, 95,
428–450.
Moscovici, S., Mugny, G., & Van Avermaet, E. (Eds.).
(1985). Perspectives on minority
influence.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mugny, G., & Perez, J. A. (1991). Social psychology of minority influence. Cambridge:
Cambridge University
Press.
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