Alexis Serrano
Introduction to Psychology
Paper 3

Conformity is another term for peer pressure. Women seem to want to stand out instead of to conform whereas men are more likely to conform then stand out. Deindividualization makes people more vulnerable to conform because people are forced to be or act like a different person than what they are confortable with. Obedience is when orders are taken from someone in authority, or someone is higher than us. I am thankful for obedience or else the world would never function properly. In high school, I witnessed so many different examples of conformity and obedience, whether or not I was the one involved or I saw it happen to other people. It may happen to you even if it is an accident. I was on the school’s varsity soccer team all four years of high school and there were several times when the girls wanted to me to do something they were doing and most of the time I refused because I knew it was wrong or it just was not something I wanted to participate in. I was always considered the good kid and would usually never do anything wrong. I never cheated on a test, or let anyone cheat off of me intentionally, talk back to the teacher or bully anyone. One example for conformity, that I denied, that I will never forget is on a Wednesday night at a team dinner, the coach had already left and one of the girls took us outside and pulled out a few bottles of alcohol and suggested we drink, knowing we had a big game the next day. I took soccer very seriously and whether or not it was about soccer, it was still wrong to do so I refused, no matter how many times the girls kept trying to push it and convince me that it was okay. They even started to call me “goody-two-shoes” to see if it would change my mind, so I left. The next day, we are warming up for the game and I look at the girls that had supposedly drank the night before and they are groggy, slow, hung-over and barely even responsive. I was furious but I kept it inside and focused on myself because I knew I did the right thing. Our coach knew something was wrong but could not pin point it and approached me with his concern. Because I did not want to throw my team “under the bus” I told him I had left right after him from the dinner and had no idea. One of the girls threw up and then he knew. None of the seven girls that participating in the drinking played for the next two weeks. They were essential starters, but we managed and they learned their lessons. This was sophomore year and all the way through senior year, you could tell they did not truly like me, but they did respect me and that was all that mattered to me.
Prejudice is assuming negative thoughts about a person before evaluating the actuality of the person in front of you. A stereotype is a belief, whether or not it is positive or negative, about the characteristics of people. Stereotypes can result in something called ultimate attribution error; which is, an assumption that behaviors among individual members of a group happen because of internal dispositions. Discrimination is negative behavior toward members of out-groups. I love animals, but more specifically, I love dogs. I have two dogs at home and they are most discriminated breed I have ever seen. If you have not guessed yet, they are American Pitbull Terriers. I rescued both of them at different times in Arizona when they were puppies. Pixie is two years old and she likes to pretend she is the mother of the family while Nimbus is one and a half and he is very playful but is also protective of my family. They are the sweetest animals I have ever had in my house my entire life, and they are also service dogs. It is discouraging to hear some of the things my neighbors have said about my dogs and to me as I am walking my dogs outside. A Mastiff puppy once attacked pixie and she did not even fight back. I had to run over, remove the other dog and save her because she knew better. The media always highlights the dog accidents when it is a pitbull, but when a pitbull does something good or heroic, it is never recognized. The public has given pitbulls such a terrible name and it is unbelievable how wrong they are. It is true that some pitbulls have attacked people, but nobody ever thinks about researching the environment it lives in and how it was raised. Every dog is different but they are all trainable to be exceptional and loving companions. I got Pixie when she was only seven weeks old and people not only judged her, but they judged me and started thinking I was a dog fighter just because of her breed. Regardless if I rescued Pixie and Nimbus or not, people did not even care to think of the way I raise my animals and just assumed that because of their breed, they are just going to fight and be mean dogs. To me, it is just ignorant and everyone should develop his or her perception of everyone individually. When a child is born into this world, because of the sex or ethnicity does not automatically tell their future at all. The way you raise your child will determine how he or she will think of right and wrong, and how they will function in society. Puppies are very similar and this is why puppies are used as practice for families that want to have their first child. Puppies can be trained what is right and wrong and how to treat their families, just like children. This is only a small example of prejudice and discrimination that should be recognized but hopefully people can start to understand why it is wrong and that it should not happen to animals or to people.