The Concept of Peer Pressure

There are several factors surrounding the concept of popular belief and its influences on the masses. Those factors include peer pressure and "mob mentality." Peer pressure and "mob mentality" are both similar and different at the same time.

Peer pressure is the pressure that peers put on one another to convince other to join in their way of thinking. When surrounded by people who think and act in a different way than you, it is hard to keep your own thoughts and opinions, For instance, your favorite team is the Dolphins, while every other person watching the game with you likes the Cowboys. Now these two teams are facing off against one another. Every time the Dolphins make a good play you are going to stand up and cheer and everyone around is giving you mean looks and telling to quite down. At first you will just brush the comments off and continue watching the game. However, after a while of being told to calm down and be quite you are eventually going to give in. You may not been planning on it, but you just gave into peer pressure. The other fans were peer pressuring you to be quite and you complied with them.

Next we have "mob mentality." They are similar because they are both pressuring someone into doing something. They are different because one is more extreme than the other. If you take "mob mentality" and look at it from a mobs point of view, you would find it rather rash and over extreme. In a mob you are expected to forget about yourself as an individual, and thing of yourself as one of the family. A family who thinks and acts as one. If you fail to think and act like your family, you will be faced with the consequences and will end up eventually replaced. For example, there is a disagreement between your mob and its largest rival. You think that the argument is pointless. However, you will not voice your opinions, because if you do than something bad is going to happen to you. You follow the mobs rules without questioning them; even if you think what they are doing is wrong. You are a lesser power and submit to the stringer one.

In conclusion popular belief and its influence on the masses are centered on peer pressure and "mob mentality." You have two different groups: one who is popular and has the power and one who is weak that no one really notices. The weaker one will, as time progresses, will give in the more powerful one. The person or group who controls the power will have dominance over everyone.