Whether it comes down to one's fashion sense or religion, everyone revolves her world and lifestyle around the idea of conformity. According to Vincent Ruggerio, author of “The Art of Thinking,” Ruggerio assumes that the act of conformity "dulls our ability to think creatively and critically" and personally, I agree with this statement for several reasons. As human beings, we all fall under the concept of being loved and noticed, so we are capable of doing the impossible.

School is one of the biggest components that make conformity such a big deal. Cliques are everywhere and it's the foundation where adolescents find their (what seems to be), their true identity. As a high school graduate myself, I've gone through some experiences that involved much peer pressure from "friends". Most of my freshman year, I had basically stuck around your typical nerds and tried to keep my 3.5 grade point average. It wasn't until the whole idea of "rolling," or ecstasy came around, that brought me down. Friends of mine fell into the lures of looking cool and feeling cool on the feeling it gave them. Suddenly their mentality of life was run by such a tiny pill. They gave up on school. Their family life was terrible. Insane. Personally I stuck true to myself and chose to live up to those nasty comments and judgments they gave me, and found myself with some new decent friends. Overall school makes up a lot of what you think because of what is taught in the classroom and outside in the school grounds.

Family is just as guilty to conformity. Parents’ and siblings’ thoughts mean a lot to one's self, whether it's good or bad. Religion, for instance, causes a lot of impact on how life is run. If a child is raised going to church every Sunday and praying every night at the dinner table, then most likely they are allowing that to be their lifestyle for the rest of their time being. If they choose not to be a part of that, they’re scolded and discriminated against by family members and others by their social environment, which often causes them to be forced to think that that is the right thing to do.

In the end, Ruggerio has the point in saying what he says because conformity very well makes people think and do certain ideas and things.