WHY PEER PRESSURE?
A psychological phenomenon about groupthink talks about how people in a group will most likely to follow the option that represents the majority of the group members while setting aside their own belief. This phenomenon results in people pressured to make irrational decision by the group with the intention to be accepted. This is what we call peer pressure.
Peer pressure makes us change parts of ourselves in order for us to fit in: we’d do things because other people did it, we’d change our lifestyle so that we would be valued, otherwise, we would become the outcast of a society. Literary works often brought up how expectations and pressures suffocate us and turn us into some “standardized robots.” As I value sincerity and freedom, I decided to cover literary works within the theme of peer pressure to explore more about how peer pressure and social pressure shape us and the people around us.
WHY TRADITION?
The qoute "tradition is just peer pressure from dead people" intrigued me. Although I personally don't think that the quote is entirely true, I do think that a lot of the pressure to fit in, to act a certain way so that we won't be an outcast is a result of values that has long been passed from generations to generations. When we say the reason why we do a certain thing is because "it's the tradition", we often refer to the fact it has always been that way and everyone does it. In some ways, we give up to peer pressure because of the same reason: everyone does it so we have to do it too.
