A Magic School Bus Field Trip

Figure 1: Hi everyone, I'm Ms. Frizzle!(4)

"Buckle up! Today we are going to learn about conformity," announces Ms. Frizzle (Figure 1).
"How are we going to do that Ms. Frizzle?" asks Meagan.
"We are going to be a fly on the wall, throughout the elementary school, for a field trip. No one there will be able to see us, because we are going to shrink," Ms. Frizzle explains.
"Shrink!", shrieks Arnold.
"Yes, how else will we be a fly on the wall? Here we go; hold on!" exclaims Ms. Frizzle as the bus got smaller and smaller.
"Oh no, I don't like the look of this Ms. Frizzle! Why is the look of everything getting so big? I can see the dust particles on the walls. They look like a giant dust mountain!" shrieked Arnold.

Figure 2: Coloring Page of a Frog (1)

In the Class Room

In the mountains of dust, the bus flew to their destination, the second grade classroom. "Now, that wasn't so bad was it kids?" Ms. Frizzle remarks. Conformity is “when people yield to real or imagined social pressure” (2). In other words, conformity is when someone does something because they want to be like everyone else. "Let's see if there are any examples of conformity in the class room." Ms. Frizzle suggests. "Coloring a picture the same as your friend is an example of conformity. This student, that isn't coloring what they want to, feels pressure from their friend to be like the other students." Ms. Frizzle clarified. If the student in Figure 2 colored the frog purple instead of green, that student would not be conforming the the pressure from his or her friends. Another example of a student resisting conformity would be if the student decided to color the water pink. "Ms. Frizzle, what about how those two guys are dressed the same? They have the same shirt on and everything!" says Marilyn.
"Yes Marilyn that would be another example of conformity." says Ms. Frizzle.
"According to my research, all of those examples are how everything stays running smoothly in a classroom. They are the rules Ms. Frizzle," says Becca.
"Yes, they are Becca, well done. Let's go to the lunch room!" Ms. Frizzle instructs.

In the Lunch Room
While watching everyone in the cafeteria, Ms. Frizzle spots an example of conformity. "Here, there is an example in line. There are a group of students talking about what they want for lunch. The one kid just said that he wanted the meatball hoagie instead of the pizza, which is what his friends want. His friends just told him that the hoagie was a bad idea. Let's get a closer look and see what he gets," suggests Ms. Frizzle. "He has gotten the pizza, which is why this is an example of conformity. He was scared that his friends would leave him out because of what he thought was tasty (3)." Ms. Frizzle explains. In this situation, the student uses conformity in order to relieve his worry of being left out.

Why Conformity is Good

Figure 3: Two People at a Fancy Restaurant (6)

"Let's go to a restaurant for another example of conformity! Conformity is not just following rules or doing what your friends are doing. Conformity is also when someone does not know what to do." Ms. Frizzle explains. Imagine the guy, in Figure 3, did not know how to eat his spaghetti properly in a fancy restaurant. This guy on the right, in Figure 3, could look to other people eating spaghetti to see the correct way to eat it. This is called the informational influence(5). The guy wants to impress his date, and not look like a barbarian, so he looks around and conforms his behavior into what others are doing. "Back to class. Buckle up!" Ms. Frizzle instructs.


Back to the Classroom
As the class comes back to normal size and settles back down into their desks for the end of the day Ms. Frizzle asks, "Class, what did we learn today?"
 "We learned, that conformity is when someone copies another person in order to fit in to their surroundings." says Becca.
"We also learned that conforming to other's behaviors is good in some cases, if you want to impress someone." says Marilyn.
"That's called the informational influence!" says Arnold.
 "We also learned that following the rules is considered to be conformity, but this allows for everything to run smoothly." says Meagan.
 "Very good class! Let's go to lunch, I'm starving!" Ms. Frizzle instructs.

References

(1) Coloring of a Frog [Photograph]. (2014). Retrieved from:  

http://www.myflfamilies.com/service-programs/child-welfare/water-safety-for-kids

(2) Dunn, D.S., Hammer,Y.E., & Weiten, W. (2012). Psychology applied to modern life. Belmont,

CA: Wadsworth.

(3) Gylling, H. (2014). Desire for conformity. Homo Oeconomicus, 31(4), 561-580.

(4) Ms. Frizzle [Photograph]. (2013). Retrieved from:

http://blog.nwf.org/2013/05/5-reasons-ms-frizzle-rocks-as-a-teacher/

(5) Oh, S.H. (2013). Do collectivists conform more than individualists? Cross-cultural differences in

compliance and internalization. Social Behavior and Personality, 41(6), 981-994.

(6) Two people  at a fancy restaurant [Photograph]. (2017). Retrieved from:

         http://cliparts.co/restaurant-menu-clipart