Ways in Which a Rebellious or Outcast Individual, Specific or Type, Conditioned to Conform, and Ways in Which This Conditioning is Ineffective
Rebellion is a common occurrence in the modern world. In reality, resistance dates back to the creation according to biblical sources. In the bible, it is noted that Satan who was an otherwise favorite angel of God rebelled against the creator in his quest to have absolute power over his creator's subjects. The aftermath would be his expulsion from heaven where the bible records that the Almighty God dwells. Different reasons could cause rebellion. The rebelling party could have found sufficient reasons to make them believe that their continue co-operation with the other party was untenable and. Therefore, rebelling against them would be an easier way out. Other people would also rebel just with the intention to get noticed that they could also have the different opinion (Millon et al., 123-126). In a nutshell rebellious characters are either inborn or induced depending on the environment one was operating. The rebellious individual could distinct of just the type of rebellion, and there could be ways that they are conditioned to behave. This article would, therefore, look at these ways in which the rebellious individuals act and how this type of conditioning could otherwise prove to be ineffective.
Rebellion like we mentioned earlier, is a condition that could be triggered in an individual by many factors. The causes of revolution could be diverse, and it could be found in people regardless of age, gender or social status. Rebels act differently to let people know that they were dissatisfied with a certain aspect. It worth noting that there was no definite way to show that someone was a rebel. Being rebellious in its way is not a sin neither is it a crime. It was simply a way of expressing dissatisfaction with certain conditions. The result of rebel would thus be formulation of ways to address the situations they were uncomfortable. That could be achieved through dialog with the affected persons so that they could return to their old ways. It would also be prudent if someone rebelled; those affected by one's rebellious ways would sit down and find out why they rebelled.
Solutions to their causes of rebellion should be adequately addressed to avoid such situations as revolutionary people could be embarrassing if their problems are not solved. Among the youth, rebellion starts with the need to create self-identification. The young people in their prime age especially adolescent years would most likely try to rebel to prove to the world that they were grownups. And that they could make independent decisions that concern their lives (Millon et al, 121-124). Such people would most likely show rebellion towards their parents and guardians as a way of showing maturity. That was one way in which resistance that arises as a result of conditions could turn ineffective. In as much as these teens would try to rebel and show the world that they were mature. They forget that at some stage of their lives they would also be parents and would never teach their children to be rebellious. Rebellion in teenagers would, therefore, be characterized by traits that would not be classified as cultural but behavioral.
Rebellion could also be as a result of peer pressure in teenagers. That was the leading cause of all rebellious teenagers today. Peer influence has a direct effect on the behavioral reactions of adolescents. Like we mentioned earlier, teenagers at times would want to prove their independence and would also want their peers to know that for sure, they were in control of their destiny. When a teenager behaves in a rebellious manner in front of his parents while their peers stand watching, the impact and the influence will be greater (Freud, Sigmund, and Strachey, 109-112). Their peers who witnessed such a scenario are more likely to rebel even more while faced with similar situations. The effect of peer pressure, therefore, had immediate and adverse consequences on the way teenagers of the same age group would behave. Not every teenage rebellion takes the route of breaking the rules of the society like indulgence in illegal activities such as drug abuse, alcoholism, and such likes. Some teenage rebellion takes the form of disregarding societal norms. So more teens in this category would try to break the patterns in order to conform to their peers but after much time they realize that it is like chasing the wind. Most of these teenagers would find these attempts to adapt to the society ineffective and would, as a result, give up (Freud, Sigmund, and Strachey, 109-112).
There were also the factors associated with the social and emotional networks within the society. Psychologists argue that trying to stop systems within the human brain tends to make individuals prone to testing indulgence in risky and dangerous behaviors. They add that attempts to discourage people from engaging in risky behaviors like illicit sex or dangerous behavior such as reckless driving tend to drive them towards these risky and hazardous activities. The people tend to become curious as to why they are deterred from such activities. Therefore, make attempts to find out for themselves what lied beneath these behaviors (Freud, Sigmund, and Strachey, 109-112). This form of conditioning the human brain, psychologists argue that it has largely been ineffective. They add that the teenage brain would go through the process of maturity during the adolescent years, and different teenagers would pass through this stage at different rates. The development of reactions to social and emotional networks has been established to grow rapidly and early at the puberty stage. The senses that develop to exercise control over dangerous and risky behavior, on the other hand, has been developed to grow slowly and over an extended period that could be as long as the whole adolescent stage.
Teenagers, it has been determined that they have the same ability as adults to evaluate and rationalized risks and their susceptibility to the risks they were likely to take in the course of their actions. Increased knowledge and education as far as the consequences of risky behavior have changed for the positive side of the adolescents' understanding of the risks. It has contributed little, however, to enforce change in their actual behavior (Freud, Sigmund, and Strachey, 109-112). This explanation could be attributed to the rules that teenagers would want to break when they rebel. These behaviors were based on the logic that the system that was supported by the cognitive control network was superior in decision making at the time. That was the system that is utilized by the adults' authority. It is usually substituted in adolescents by the otherwise stronger social and emotional system.
Comparable to mentioned earlier, conditioning of individuals to make them less rebellious only tend to harden their cause thus making this conditioning ineffective. In adults though, rebellion creeps in when one is faced with downs in life. Individuals going through depression are more likely to rebel so as to find a new and fresher approach to the challenges that they face. It has been demonstrated that adult rebellion could be used as a tool for reinventing oneself and ultimately such a person would more likely have a second chance. Take for example a person who felt like they were stuck in a rut due to being a widow or a widower for over a year. It was not finding the kind of assistance they needed after trying to reach out for that kind of help. Feeling lost, such people would feel like they needed to do the opposite of what was expected of a middle-aged or an aged person (Brustein, 76-79). So, in turn, they could decide to do crazy things. Things like a woman deciding that she was going to learn w to drive a motorcycle, or better worse, drinking alcohol stupidly much to the astonishment of the society.
It was also suggested that rebellion opened new possibilities for the aged persons by erasing old memories. Simultaneously, rebellion could also uncover hidden truths about oneself. The truths that rebellion could unearth be those that one may not have ever known about them (Freud, Sigmund, and Strachey, 110-112). That could in a way contribute to happiness in one's life once again. Now, for example, riding a motorcycle like we have indicated in the above statement could be a mild activity as compared to some other choices this woman could have made like engaging in violent confrontations to express her frustrations. People that are depressed or at a crossroads in their life could depend on fun making activities to spice things up. At least make them forget their troubles and tribulations and could end up making even dangerous and harmful choices in their lives (Millon et al, 121-124). There would be nothing wrong with no adult having fun and doing something that would appear different from their usual norm. But it would not be advisable if it were done passively and aggressively or to make someone jealous of them.
The term rebellion itself had a sort of negative undertone in itself somewhat. In this case, we would wish to believe that rebellion should not be the right word to use to describe the experience of a woman who tried riding a motorcycle out of frustrations and depression. Opening up new heights and avenues in one's life could be a refreshing and enlightening encounter along life's frustrating moments. Rebellion by definition would be described to be going against the established societal social norms (Schwartz, 133-136). Indulgence in acts like riding a motorcycle in the real sense would not be considered as going against any societal norm. It would still be considered as an act of rebellion for adults express rebellious characters by indulging in activities that would be more of stress relievers that breaking societal norms as opposed to teenagers or youths. We would wish to encourage people to embrace the idea of living one's life to the fullest, and of course any single moment that one would doubt their worth would be a wasted moment in their lives. The act of enjoying life to the very end that one could be considered to be the very essence of living (Carter, 66-69). People do not necessarily question themselves so as to get answers to their life's troubles, but also to better themselves and find out what kind of goals they could achieve with their lives.
There was a gaunt line in the difference in enjoying life and adult rebellion. There ought to be a balance between mechanisms that could help in reinventing a person and those activities that were aimed at creating a fun and enjoying life (Brustein, 76-79). Some actions that adults take could be embarrassing especially to the ones we love or could even cause more harm to them in the name of rebellion. In adults as opposed to teenagers, frustrations and down lows in life ought to be expressed with some decorum and maturity. Adults ought to take the energy and used it to embrace their lives and cherished the achievements they have and most importantly shared them with the people around them (Huxley, 89-92). When one was frustrated and felt depressed in life, ought to be the time that they stopped fighting the system as it were because they were part of the order that they were trying to destabilize. This behavior of an attempt to express frustrations by doing things that were unimaginable of an adult would be a very ineffective of conditioning rebellion in adults.
As Sigmund Freud says in his book "Civilization and its Discontents", rebellion by its very nature was as a result of culture. He argues that, due to civilization, human beings have been enlightened and as a consequence. No one would wish to be conditioned in a particular way to behave (Freud, Sigmund, and Strachey, 109-112). He adds that this was the primary disadvantage of civilization on human psychology. Culture tends to drive a man to dare and try out what would be considered as risky endeavors. In an attempt to try out new things that were otherwise left as dangerous, the society continues to go against the norms every day (Huxley, 87-91). This conditioning of the mind is what civilization has driven away from the minds of people. Instead of sitting back and just knowing that certain things are not supposed to be tried out, culture has taught man the benefits of daring and trying things out. That was civilization's major discontent and has also gone ahead to prove that through civilization, the conditioning of a rebellious mind to conform to the wishes of the society was indeed ineffective.
Work Cited
Freud, Sigmund, and James Strachey. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. Print
Carter, William L. Teenage Rebellion. Houston, TX: Rapha Pub./Word Inc, 1991. Print.
Merill, Mark, Reasons Why Your Teen is Rebelling. (2012) Retrievd on 6th December 2014 from: http://www.markmerrill.com/5-reasons-why-your-teen-is-rebelling/ internet source.
Schwartz, Gary. Beyond Conformity or Rebellion: Youth and Authority in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Print.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Internet resource.
Millon, Carrie M, Theodore Millon, Seth Grossman, Sarah Meagher, and Rowena Ramnath. Personality Disorders in Modern Life. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2013. Internet resource.
Brustein, Robert S. The Theatre of Revolt: An Approach to the Modern Drama. Chicago: Elephant Paperbacks, 1991. Print.
