Basic Summary of Elliot Aronson's 'Social Animal' Essay

Basic Summary of Elliot Aronson's 'Social Animal' - Essay Example Aronson has fundamentally asserted that people tend to move along with the mob in general because if they do not, they are offered social resistance. They may change their personal opinion in favor of the majority either to escape a punishment, seek a reward or else, because of lack of confidence in their personal judgment. Conformity is essentially compliance if the objective is reward/punishment centered. It is identification if the individual’s intention is to develop affiliation, and it is internalization, if the individual conforms if he/she actually thinks it is rational. Aronson has also discussed some personality variables like self esteem, courage and experience that determine the level of conformity in an individual’s attitude. Then Aronson discussed obedience in context of conformity, and finally, the role of an uninvolved bystander as that of a conformist, because he/she overlooks the tragedy because everybody else does the same. Overall, the article is a ve ry comprehensive and though provoking demonstration of