Social Influence Response
David Myers (2014) writes, “Participants in the Asch and Milgram experiments confronted a dilemma we all face frequently: Do I adhere to my own standards, or do I respond to others? In Milgram’s experiments and their modern replications, participants were torn. Should they respond to the pleas of the victim or the orders of the experimenter? These experiments demonstrated that strong social influences can make people conform to falsehoods or capitulate to cruelty.” (p. 565). Asch’s experiments proved that people will conform to a group’s actions or behavior even when they are clearly in the wrong.
Milgram’s studies revealed people were struggling with making the decision to obey the experimenter or choosing to
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Apostle Paul said in 1Co 11:1(KJV) “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” Christians are instructed in the Bible not to conform to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2). By staying in the Word of God, we are less likely to get caught up in the opinions of others. We are also called to exhibit self-control in every area of our lives especially when it comes to our impulses and instant gratification. Starting our day off prayerfully and devoting time to our Lord and Savior and allowing Him to plan our day for us will also help us to not give an audience to Satan and his cohorts.
We are experiencing a culture that has our young people driven to gangs and being influenced by them to commit evil acts. That can be seen from the tragic events that have occurred recently where innocent babies have been killed by the random gunfire of those who are shooting at cars. In Cleveland, there are so many gangs and loss of life from drive by shootings that it has people afraid. These are dangerous times and evil is all around us.
Peer pressure is not new to our society. It has been in its existence since the beginning of time. David Myers (2014) asked a question, “Do I adhere to my own standards, or do I respond to others?” (p. 565). Prayerfully, those standards are those that God has ordained for man to live