By From the moment you are born, you feel exposed to social gazes, judgments, and narratives. Do you know how this dynamic conditions you? We explain it to you below.
You already realized something very important in your childhood: the need to fit into your environment, to assume certain codes of conduct and even to imitate certain dynamics facilitated acceptance and validation by others. Social pressure is what made you follow certain narratives from an early age that did not always mediate your well-being.
It’s true that sometimes your culture, family and group of friends had — and still have — many benefits for you. But at other times, you feel pressured and don’t know how to respond. You’re worried about being judged, criticized or, worst of all, rejected. Social exclusion is something that no one likes and you try to prevent it, but at what price? Let’s dig a little deeper.
“The disappearance of the sense of responsibility is the most dangerous consequence of submission to authority.”
~ Stanley Milgram ~
Social pressure: what is it and how does it affect you?
Social pressure is the influence that society, groups and individuals exert on you. Its purpose is to make you conform to certain norms and expectations in order to be accepted in a certain setting. Likewise, we are not wrong if we tell you that this dynamic is, at times, one of your greatest sources of silent suffering.
Social psychology has been studying this phenomenon for decades. Figures such as Solomon Ash, Muzafer Sherif and Stanley Milgram have taught us how people, in certain contexts, alter their behaviour and even give up strong values just to feel integrated. Below, we explain how this dimension influences you.
Conformity
One of the most common ways in which social pressure conditions you is through conformity. Often, in order to fit into a group, you end up diluting yourself into other people’s expectations and norms . This sometimes causes you to carry out actions that go against your own principles and personal values just to feel included.
This was observed by Belmont University in a study. In an experiment, they found that individuals were more likely to cheat when their peers asked them to. People give in and follow the rules of their environment without objection, in order to maintain an alliance with certain social groups.
Obedience
Do you know the classic experiment that social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted at Yale University and later published in The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology ? The aim of that experiment was to investigate to what extent human beings are willing to obey the orders of an authority.
What we have seen is that sometimes pressure from higher-status figures makes some individuals capable of causing pain to other people. Obedience resulting from social pressure may even lead to questioning your own morality. These are very complex dynamics.
Follow unwritten social norms
The way you dress, the way you relate, what you buy and even what popular series you watch. A good part of your behaviour is governed by unwritten social norms that you follow to build your sense of belonging . You may avoid certain trends and conditions, but when it comes to interacting with your environment, you know that it is key to follow the same codes.
Social pressure also means having a mobile phone, a social media account or watching the latest Netflix hit. Many of the things you define as “normal” are, in reality, artificial constructions of the psychosocial environment that contains you.
Emotional effects
How many times in your life have you felt bad for not fitting in or being judged by those around you? Without a doubt, many. What’s more, even in adulthood, that pressure exists and stresses you out. For example, mothers who do not choose to breastfeed and are criticized by their friends feel it. Also, those who feel better being single than in a couple.
Another example of this phenomenon is described in an article in the journal Scientific Reports . This work shows the social pressure that exists in many cultures for us to be happy. Toxic positivity, which is so widely sold today, exerts a certain conditioning on people. But, of course, without much success.
Self-concept and self-esteem
There is one fact that you will agree with. Criticism or social rejection from your environment is experienced as something devastating. This can make you, from a very early age, feel the need to receive approval and acceptance from others. Because exclusion hurts, eats away at you and affects you to the point of weakening your self-esteem.
We see a striking example of this reality every day in teenagers. As described in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health , psychosocial pressure has a direct impact on the body image and self-esteem of young people. So much so that the obligation to conform to rigid models of beauty often leads to depression and eating disorders.
Insecurity in decision making
If you were to analyze each and every decision you make every day, you would realize something. A significant part of what you decide is mediated by what others may think of you. The fear of other people’s judgments is like that shadow that you never quite get rid of from your mind.
“What will people think of me if I post this comment/photo/
post /
reel on social media? Will I get a
like or will I lose followers?” “What happens if I bring up this political conversation with my in-laws?” “Will I be judged at work if I decide to join a union?”
Changes in attitudes and beliefs
When navigating in society, you often encounter many storms and dangerous reefs. Many of these take the form of conflicts and uncomfortable disagreements. Sometimes, in order to avoid problems, you make certain changes in your attitudes. For example, agreeing with your boss on almost everything in order to keep your job.
What’s more, you may even tone down your beliefs and opinions a bit in front of others to avoid arguments, to avoid being criticized or rejected in certain social settings. These are very common phenomena resulting from that invisible pressure that has such an impact on human beings.
Risk behavior
There is hardly a person who has not experienced a similar situation in adolescence. Psychosocial pressure can lead you to engage in risky behavior just to be less than others. A clear example of this is consuming alcohol excessively because your group of friends does it.
When psychosocial pressure is positive
It is also possible that the influence that social groups exert on an individual translates into positive behavior. After all, human beings are used to living in groups and, if we are a clear example of evolutionary success, it is because we demonstrate enriching behaviors among ourselves. In fact, they are the majority.
Feeling influenced by family and friends who carry out ethical acts is a clear example of this benefit. Cooperation, empathy and responsibility are dynamics that serve as models for us and that we imitate.
Psychosocial pressure determines us, but we can choose
It is true that adapting and following the norms of the group makes you feel included and validated. But… at what price? Do you always have to do it, at the expense of common sense and your own values? The emotional cost of diluting yourself in each and every one of the social conditions can be very painful. The ideal is to maintain an adequate balance.
Recognizing your principles, beliefs and personal limits is essential in every context and circumstance. The better you understand who you are and what matters to you, the easier it will be to make informed decisions and resist pressure from your environment. Not everything is worth it, and even less so if it violates your dignity and freedom. You have to live in society, but without losing your individuality.