Let me tell you a story about me. =) As funny as this may sound, I have only been to a club once. My perception of clubbing before I clubbed was that it is bad and only “popular” people club. Since I am not popular in school, why should I go clubbing? All of my friends club at least once in their life. Some of my friends go clubbing when they reach the legal age of 18; some others go clubbing even before 18 years old. Anyway, I first went clubbing on my nineteenth birthday. Nobody believes me if I told them that I’ve never been to clubbing till I reached 19.

Thinking back on the day that I said yes to clubbing, I felt that I had to agree to it instead of wanting to go on my own accord. After reading a little of the textbook, I found out that I was behaving in the theory of conformity.

We all know about conformity- It is the change of one’s behavior to ‘fit in’ into situations and the change of behavior is caused by another person or a group. In the case mentioned above, I conformed to clubbing with friends will probably be due to wanting acceptance from the group and to fit in to the social norms.

To me, clubbing was a wrong thing to do. If I know that it is wrong, why did I still go besides following the social norms? In the textbook, it mentioned that there is some research done which provided answers that took me by surprise. It was mentioned that people often go along with the incorrect answer when they are faced with situations that they know are wrong. Hence, even when clubbing to me was wrong, I went on with it just because.

I will end off this post with yet another thought. Does conformity occur due to pressure- regardless of peer, societal or cultural factors?

I have been travelling on the MRT alot lately. If u know me, you will know that i don't travel using the train often. from my place, getting to where ever is easy with bus! AND its cheaper too!! Many weird things can happen in the train. From people rushing to get a seat, to people squeezing in to get a space in the train. And the extrem? People getting squshed at the door and there is ALOT of space in the center of the cabin. Anyway, i guess, with these sentence, u will kinda guess what issue i will be addressing.

I would like to review on this one trip from Redhill station to Pasir Ris station. I sat at a corner seat and i just did what Chermaine does best- sleep. It was the during peak hour and when the train reach City Hall and Raffles Place, there was the rush of working adults into the cabins and yes, i woke up. Anyway, I looked around to find that people are very uncomfortable when they are all "sardine" up. I was glad that I got a space for myself and well, continued to look around for interesting things to think about since my journey is so so long.

At that point of time, something caught my eye. The little poster below the map in train cabins.

What I found really interesting is that this poster looks really funny. Think about it this way, this picture shows an elderly and a pregnant lady and with a young kid and people giving up their seats for them. They are the people "who needs it more than I do". Anyway, I think that many Singaporeans have the misconception that people who needs the seat more then they do is when they are either old or pregnant and with a young kid. i found this very interesting to think about.

I was still thinking about how Singaporeans might have misunderstood the poster when a pregnant lady and her husband stepped into the cabin. At that point in time, i was really really excited to see what is going to happen. I know I have to give up my seat to her but have remain seated. Now, did the poster serve as a reminder to people to give up their seats or are they just a "decorative" item on the train walls?

Let me just further elaborate the situation. All seats at that cabin were taken. Now, directly opposite me sat an elderly couple, beside me and a couple more seats away from me sat some teenagers whom i presume were younger than i am. I pretended to "study" Social psych. ha!

I waited for one stop before i gave my seat up to her. I am very sure that the teenagers did see her coming into the train. Now, what made them not give up their seat?! Do they in the first place have to give up their seat? (well, the poster said so!) Anyway, when i gave up my seat to her, i got stared at. Was what i did something wrong? did i just cross over that thin line of being socially accepted and being what i was told to do? well, this is something to think about! =)

On my way home, something terrible happened! i thought that the situation in the morning was bad enough! A pregnant lady not having a seat?! Well, it just gets worst! I was to alight at Tiong Bahru station. The train was pretty pack when i saw at the end of the cabin that i m in was an elderly couple standing there (as shown in the picture below). Now,what is going on?! People not wanting to give up their seats? OR are they are just waiting for someone to give up their seats for them? I've concluded (pretty much) that whatever "ungracious" act of Singaporeans in the train can be theorized with THE BYSTANDER EFFECT!

We all know what the bystander effect is- That the higher the number of people, the lesser it is for something to happen. Hence, in this case, the higher the number of people in the cabin, the less likely will people who need seats get a seat! Adding on to this, when there is more people, the less chance it is for one to feel te need and responsibility to react or act in situations.

Anyway, I was pretty annoyed with what i saw. I realised after that infront of me stood an elderly lady. She is pretty fit tho. =) I got off my seat at Outram station. Just decided that i should give her my seat. But what is shocking is when i stood up to offer that elderly lady my seat, a mother of 2, ask her daughter to quickly take "my" seat because it is dangerous for her to play her DS lite while standing. This was just too much for me to handle. i was so close to asking that little girl to give up the seat for the elderly lady. Thank God that elderly lady stopped me. =S

Chermaine. =)