Society today is full of ideas and ways of life for the average person to live up to. Are these principles accurate for the average person living in today’s society? No, these standards are unrealistic and they are weighted by the major influence of Hollywood, such as Hollywood celebrities, television shows, and even television advertisements. These outside influences not only sway a person’s normal view, but they also can damage the average person, usually woman, physically and emotionally. Hollywood’s influence is not a healthy one, leading the typical person to conform to these so-called standards.
Elliot Aronson, the author of The Social Animal, defines conformity as “a change in a person’s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people” (1999, p.19).
Some may say that this supposed pressure does not affect one’s judgment, but indeed it does. Although it may not seem like pressure, the slightest circumstance could compel a person to conform to the dominator’s way of thinking.
One of the three different responses to social influence is Identification. This is a response to social influence brought on by a person’s quest to be like the influencer (Aronson, 1999).
Aronson says that humans adopt a certain behavior because it creates a relationship to the people to whom we are identifying with (Aronson, 1999).
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Even though this “satisfying relationship” is what a person is looking for, it may not really be satisfying; it just seems to be.
Take, for example, the television show Ally McBeal. The main character, Calista Flockhart, seems to be as thin as she could possibly be without being hospitalized. Is this how the ideal woman in today’s society should look? No, but because Ally McBeal is such a frequently viewed television show, more and more people want to look like, and even act like, the character Calista Flockhart plays on TV. This unhealthy look is so desirable now because it has not only been seen on Ally McBeal, but is now the look of celebrities. It has been called the “lollipop look” because these women’s bodies look like sticks of a lollipop, and the pop being their heads.
As women are more likely to conform than men are (Aronson, 1999), the person’s education, self-esteem, and age, all play into it. If a woman is young, with low self-esteem, she is going to be more influenced than a confident well-educated woman. Women in today’s society look to the stars for guidance and tips in fashion, exercise, and dieting, because they believe that is where the role model is. What they don’t understand, is that as they are in quest of these things, they are conforming to the actions of the celebrities, and destroying themselves at the same time. As Aronson believes, “If [they] find a person attractive or appealing in some way, [they] will be incline to accept influence from that person and adopt similar values and attitudes—not in order to obtain a reward or avoid a punishment, but simply to be like that person” (1999, p.35).
Another television show that causes conformity is Friends. A few years ago, Jennifer Aniston, who plays Rachel Greene, showed up on the show with a new layered haircut. This haircut took off and became known as the Rachel- do, Everyone wanted this haircut because it was the thing to do. As stated earlier, this attraction to the celebrities is, in social psychology, Identification. With Identification, the main ingredient is attractiveness. This being the attractiveness of the person that we are identifying with (Aronson, 1999).
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Therefore, the thoughts of an average person would be, ‘since Jennifer Aniston looks so good with this haircut, so will I.” And in essence this person will conform to the ideas of the celebrity.
This same use of identification goes for television commercials and advertisements. For instance, take hair dye commercials. Heather Locklear is one of the many celebrity spokeswomen for a specific line of hair color. Doesn’t everybody just want to look like her? That is the idea. The hair color company uses Heather Locklear as a figure of higher status, and the typical person looks at her and wants to emulate her. “We identify with the model, we want to hold the same opinions that the model holds…Unless you have strong feelings or solid information to the contrary, there will be a tendency for you to adopt this position” (1999, p.38).
And, in this case, this position is the way that Heather Locklear feels about a certain hair color.
No matter what, Hollywood celebrities have a definite impact on the rest of society. Whether it is on television or within an advertisement or commercial, it influences the people living in this society. This influence will continue to change and shape society as a whole, from one year to the next. These influences not only harm a person, but also begin to harm society as a whole.
Bibliography
Aronson, Elliot. The Social Animal. Worth Publishers/W.H. Freeman and Company:
New York, 1999.
