I work in an office near boat quay- a place that is filled with night life. Going to work on a saturday morning, i always see a group of drunk people outside a club at around 8 am refusing to go home to my astonishment. They are mostly out of control and have no sense of what is happening around them. Seeing people vomitting is not what i would like my eyes to see first thing on a saturday morning. Why do people drink till they are out of control? It is really ironic, that a guy who is already vomitting, has a beer can in his hand and still continue to drink. Why does this happen? Is it because of peer pressure OR conforming to the environment that they are in?
I have friends who drink just because they are in a club. They are conforming to the clubbing environment thinking that it is a place that you should drink if not you will be frowned upon. Friends forcing one another to drink also leads to them not being able to hold their liquor thus making a fool out of themselves.
Is it ever possible for one to drink and not go overboard. Alcohol tends to make one lose control if over consumed: I’m sure everyone knows this yet they still go overboard! I’m not saying that drinking is wrong, rather being drunk and losing control is wrong. So please, don’t succumb to peer pressure and conformity because if you do, u end up being laughed at for the nonsensical stuff you do when not in control.
Control is indeed something quite crucial in our lives. A lack of it would most definitely cause a mess one way or another. However, one cannot deny that self-control can sometimes be undermined by social pressures. At the end of the day, it’s all about social desirability. No one wants to be ostracized. Of course this is not saying that drinking till your body explodes is a good thing. I guess we just have to step back and consider if conforming is worth it. It’s really all about willpower huh? =p
Yeah, peer pressure is definitely the greatest reason why many people start drinking in clubs. I’ve got personal experiences of having others continually press me to drink even after rejecting them many times and have seen countless people squatting on the floor outside the clubs retching their insides out. Guess it is really pretty difficult to withstand peer pressure as most people are afraid to appear uncool in front of their friends who think that drinking is the ‘coolest’ thing to do on earth.
Normative influence is at its full force here i guess…hmmm even non drinkers may just drink in order not to be ridiculed by friends…The dissonance reduction may have been used to convince themselves that drinking is cool by saying it makes them look cool…When the drink kicks in then alcohol myopia occurs thus reducing ones cognitive ability thus making them susceptible to hostile aggression…and unecessary problems…when avoidance is difficult…then limitation of consumption of drink would be better….Andre
Normative influence is at its full force here i guess…hmmm even non drinkers may just drink in order not to be ridiculed by friends…The dissonance reduction may have been used to convince themselves that drinking is cool by saying it makes them look cool…When the drink kicks in then alcohol myopia occurs thus reducing ones cognitive ability thus making them susceptible to hostile aggression…Andre’