Conformity Definition

Homework #5 The topic I chose is Obedience. Obedience is defined as, “Acting in accord with a direct order or command.” (Myers,2013,188). In my research the term compliance may also come up. Compliance is defined as, “Conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing.” (Myers,2013,188). The words conformity and acceptance may also be brought up. Conformity is defined as, “A change in behavior or belief as the result of a real or imagined group pressure.” (Myers,2013,188). Acceptance is, “Conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure.” (Myers,2013,188). My research question is “how does obedience play a role in parenting situations?”
The purpose of this article is to show the relationship between parental monitoring and how well an adolescent obeys the rules of the parents. This article is experimental. There are three specific questions addressed in the article. To what extent is obedience a global characteristic that varies across adolescents and to what extent does individual adolescents’ obedience vary across issues? Do parental monitoring, rules, and rule enforcement predict adolescent obedience? Do adolescents’ internal standards of behavior (agreement with parents) and their beliefs about their parents’ right to set rules (legitimacy of parental authority) and their own obligation to obey parent’s standards when they disagree predict obedience over and above parental monitoring, rules, and rule enforcement? The questions are to help predict which adolescents are more or less obedient from global characteristics of the parents and the adolescents’ beliefs about the rules enforced by the parents, the legitimacy of the authority and how obligated the adolescent is to obey the
The legitimacy of authority means how the parents’ control over a certain aspect of life is appropriate to their role as a parent. Some examples are safety rules like don’t drink and drive, don’t smoke and moral standards like, don’t gossip, don’t steal, respect others, etc. Adolescents and parents see some things in life as out of the control of parents such as, who they are friends with, and what their extra curricular activities are. Previous studies show that adolescents have a higher obligation to obey when the rules are within the legitimate realm of authority (Smetana, 1988b). Although most adolescents agree that there are some things out of the parents control, the percentages do vary in different countries. In Hong Kong, 76% of a sample of adolescents said that there are some things out of a parents’ control (Yau & Smetana, 1996). In the United States, only 69% of pre adolescents and 82% of late adolescents placed personal issues outside the reach of the parents’ control (Smentana, 1988a). There is a considerable difference in legitimacy beliefs among different age groups as shown in the numbers I just mentioned. This is due to a moral obligation to do what your parents say and parents still have a very active role in who a child hangs out with and what they do with their free time (Darling, Cumsille, &