Being as a human, we all have the sense of belonging and the need to belong. The article “How the Need to Belong Influences Human Behavior and Motivation” written by Kendra Cherry explained the need to belong, how it affects human behavior and the results. The article said that the need to belong refers to human emotional need, which is a desire that we need to be accepted and take part of a group. People would often change their behaviors to affiliate with that group of people and gain acceptance and support from the members of the group. They compared themselves with the members of that group of people to ensure how well they fit in. People who have shared interests form a specific group about this common interest. The point of conforming into a specific group of people was to satisfy people’s desire of belonging to a certain group, it supported people mentally. Although I believe that the human need to belong and conform is a negative trait. First of all, it is a waste sacrificing ourselves’ original unique behavior just for conforming to a group that can provide us a sense of belonging. We should sacrifice our own uniqueness to belong temporarily. In the article “How the Need to Belong Influences Human Behavior and Motivation”, the author mentioned that the need to belong to a group can also lead to changes in behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes. They want to gain attention and acceptance from the group by changing their behavior. But is that a fair deal to abandon our original traits for a sense of belonging that might collapse someday? We are more precious compared to the things that can only comfort us for a time but not forever. The sense of belonging based on others might disappear one day, the most reliable belonging should be self - supported.
Secondly, people get self - consumed during the process of conforming, which is definitely not mentally helpful. The desire to belong motivated people to change their behavior just to affiliate, but it did cause anxiety. In the article “How the Need to Belong Influences Human Behavior and Motivation”, the author said the need to belong is a natural motivation to socialize with others to gain acceptance, it was shown in social comparison. Those people spend time on comparing themselves with the members of a certain group, to see how much they fit. People get so anxious that they want to belong to a certain group of people, and the truth is that the human need to belong and conform brings us such negative feelings, so it should be known as negative.
Last but not least, this kind of need and desire might cause people to have no sense about what they are doing. They might be learning bad habits and behavior to conform to a vicious group of people, which causes damage to both society and ourselves. In the article “How the Need to Belong Influences Human Behavior and Motivation”, the author raised an example of people changing their behavior to gain acceptance. A new member of the football team might adopt the new dress same as the other members of the team in order to fit in with the rest of the group. But what if the teenager has to take drugs or do something inhumanly to gain acceptance? People who have a lack of sense of belonging should find the sense of belonging and security in themselves first. It has a probability to misguide people who need to be directed correctly, which shows that this is a negative trait.
In conclusion, I believe that the human need to belong and conform is a negative trait. First of all, it is a waste sacrificing ourselves’ original unique behavior just for conforming to a group that can provide us a sense of belonging. Secondly, people get self - consumed during the process of conforming, which is definitely not mentally helpful. People get so anxious that they want to belong to a certain, and the truth is that the human need to belong and conform brings us such negative feelings, so it should be known as negative. Last but not least, this kind of need and desire might cause people to have no sense about what they are doing. They might be learning bad habits and behavior to conform to a vicious group of people, which causes damage to both society and ourselves. People who have a lack of sense of belonging should find the sense of belonging and security in themselves first. It has a probability to misguide people who need to be directed correctly, which shows that this is a negative trait.
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