Thirteen Reasons Why

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Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience: 
An analysis of psychological concepts in Thirteen Reasons Why



As the most tweeted about television show of 2017, Thirteen Reasons Why gives audiences more than their fair share of things to talk about. The immensely popular show is a Netflix original series that premiered in March of 2017. It is based upon a 2007 novel of the same name by Jay Asher. The show is centered around the story of a high school boy, Clay Jensen, who finds a mysterious box lying on his porch. The box is filled with cassette tapes previously recorded by a classmate and crush of his, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On each tape, Hannah details the thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Each episode of Thirteen Reasons Why chronicles one of Hannah’s thirteen reasons and follows the lives of those she left behind. Throughout the unveiling of Hannah’s story, Clay learns about the sexual assault, spreading of rumors, public humiliation, stalking, and rape that contributed to Hannah’s decision to end her life.

The story of Hannah’s life at her school seems to be a challenging one, as it is for most young adults. This is because adolescence is one of the most influential and impressionable stages in a young person’s life. During the teenage years, kids begin to develop their own beliefs, values, and discover who they are as individuals. As self concepts begin to solidify, interactions with others become extremely important. Examining the social influences that Hannah experiences throughout Thirteen Reasons Why can help explain her behaviors and the unfortunate sequence of events that unfolds.

In Thirteen Reasons Why, Hannah is affected by the real and imagined pressures of others as she tries to adapt and find a way to be accepted amongst her classmates. Hannah exhibits displays of yielding to social influence by conforming to group norms and complying with requests from others. She also obeys the demands of authority or status. The culture at Hannah’s high school revolves around supporting and protecting certain students, such as the athletes, as one of Hannah’s friends describes in the video below. Hannah follows these norms and tends to try to impress and please the popular or authoritative figures at her school. This gets her into trouble as the show progresses.



So why does Hannah feel the need to be like everyone else? Conformity to group norms occurs can be explained psychologically in two ways. First, conformity may occur due to informational influence, where influence produces conformity when a person believes others are correct in their judgements. Or second, conformity may occur due to normative influence, during which a person conforms due to fears of the negative social consequences that result from appearing deviant. Hannah’s acts of conformity are likely driven by normative influence. Specifically, she is acting on a fear of ostracism. Social ostracism involves being neglected, ignored, or excluded. The person being ostracized typically reacts with emotional distress, feeling alone, hurt, angry, and lacking in self-esteem. These feelings are characterized by Hannah’s depression and diminishing self-worth throughout the show.

Even after Hannah experiences trauma, she continues to try to find acceptance amongst her peers. This is because social pain can have motivating effects. After feeling rejected, people will often try to re-affiliate with others. This makes them more sensitive to social perception cues that signal opportunities for inclusion, which explains Hannah’s decision to go to a party being thrown by a classmate, Bryce, despite the rumors and slut shaming that he and his friends have spread. The video clip below shows Hannah at the party, complying to the simple requests of Bryce and his friends. Hannah is disarmed by the request to bring the people in the hot tub some pizza from across the patio, she complies to try to please and re-affiliate with them. The pizza request works like the foot-in-the-door technique, as the guys in the hot tub are later able to convince Hannah to join them.


A popular coping mechanism that people use when trying to fit in is automatic imitation. Automatic imitation works as a social function that, for Hannah, involved mimicking others because she was highly motivated to affiliate with them. Acting like another person can allow the interaction to go more smoothly and reduce feelings of exclusion.

As viewers get deeper into the series, they will notice how Hannah begins to shift her thinking as the traumatic events in her life add up. Early in the show, Hannah appears to only be acting with public conformity; she has a superficial change in her overt behaviors without a corresponding change of opinion that is produced by group pressures. Later however, she appears to be conforming privately as well. Hannah begins to accept the position taken by others and believes the opinions of others as her own. This process is a major turning point for Hannah as she no longer believes in the goodness within herself. Instead, she accepts the hate and dislike that others have for her and begins to feel that way about herself too. On her final tape, Hannah records an encounter she has with the school’s guidance counselor in which she tells him about her rape. When his reaction is to question Hannah’s state of mind and potential unspoken consent. Hannah begins to question whether the incident was her fault after all. You can watch part of Hannah’s encounter with her guidance counselor in the video below:



Thirteen Reasons Why is a powerful and affecting story. It uses Hannah's narrative as a way to make people realize the importance of being nice to others while also demonstrating the dire consequences that can arise from the mistreatment of others. Despite this generally altruistic, overarching theme and the show's success, the series has attracted plenty of critics as well. Most criticisms object to the show's depiction of suicide and claim it may be dangerous for at-risk or suicidal people to watch. Producers of Thirteen Reasons Why defend their artistic decisions, stating that they wanted everything to be as real as possible in order to create a catalyst for conversation surrounding uncomfortable topics. 

If you want to learn more about the controversial topics discussed in Thirteen Reasons Why, or you or someone you know is going through something similar, please visit the links below: 
Season one of Thirteen Reasons Why is now available for streaming on Netflix. The show has been renewed for a second season and is currently in production. It is predicted to be released in summer of 2018.




Acknowledgements

 Edgein, E. (2017, June 10). Hannah at bryce's party (scene 1)- 13 reasons why s01. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?vlPoEQib0zs

 Edgein, E. (2017, June 30). Kat's deposition (scene 1)- 13 reasons why s01. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_mf34XkvHQ

 Hannum, M. (2017, April 13). 13 reasons why episode 13 tape 7 side a. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFmcuwr4pAc

 Henick, M. (2017, May 4). Why '13 reasons why' is dangerous. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/03/opinions/13-reasons-why-gets-it-wrong-henick-opinion/index.html

 Incaprera J. (Producer). (2017). Thirteen reasons why [Television series]. Los Gatos, CA: Netflix Inc.

 Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2017). Social psychology, tenth edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Nathoo, Z. (2017, April 29). 13 reasons why: It is 'exposing the truth' or a 'primer' on teen suicide? Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/13-reasons-why-criticism-1.4091960

 Wagmeister, E. (2017, August 21). Netflix's '13 reasons why' is most tweeted about show of 2017. Retrieved from http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/netflix-13-reasons-why-twitter-most-popular-show-2017-1202392460/

Comments

  1. Cassie CecchettiniMarch 6, 2018 at 6:14 PM

    I'm glad you discussed this. I watched Thirteen Reasons Why last year and had an internal debate about the things that happened to her. While obviously horrible, it seemed as if she just kept walking into situations she knew weren't going to end well, like when she went to Bryce's party. I can see now how the ideas of conformity played a big role in her decisions to do some of the things she did. Maybe she thought going to Bryce's house would make things better if it went well. I don't know. That was a tough show to watch! Especially the ending.
    But I do think it's important for people to be aware of this issue and how big of an impact a person can have on others, even if it seems like a small interaction.

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    1. UnknownMarch 11, 2018 at 11:28 AM

      Thanks for your comment Cassie! I think you make a great point about how it seemed as if Hannah kept walking into situations that she knew wouldn’t end well. From the outside, I think it is easy to come to that conclusion and many people did. Given what we have talked about regarding conformity, I think that she must have made the choice to go to the party as a last-ditch effort to fit in and change peoples minds about her. I think Hannah was probably tired of feeling isolated and thought the only way out of that loneliness was to try to connect with others by acting the same way that they do.

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  2. UnknownMarch 7, 2018 at 12:04 PM

    It is sad how many girls have been sexually assaulted. I've watched quite a few beautiful girls turn to drug addicts because of things similar to what is described in your post. One girl I know was made to drink over 20shots of rum then you can imagine what happened from there. I was nowhere around when it happened. She showed up at my house crying afterwards. I to this day tell her to stop hanging around those people. That was 14years ago and she was 13. The need to conform and be liked by others is strong for everyone. I can see both how this show could detour and entice suicide based off this post.

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    1. UnknownMarch 11, 2018 at 11:34 AM

      Thanks for sharing your friend’s story Eddie. I’m so sorry to hear about her struggles. One of the reasons I really liked writing about Thirteen Reasons Why is because of how relatable it is for many people. While difficult to swallow, I think that most of us have seen or heard about situations similar to those discussed on this show. The social pressures in our culture and desire to fit in weighs heavily on lots of people. I think you make a great point about how conformity is something that influences almost everyone. In one way or another, we all engage in self-comparisons and it is a huge obstacle to try to overcome. While solutions may not seem clear, it is something that I think is very important to discuss.

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  3. UnknownMarch 7, 2018 at 2:09 PM

    Ooh, Thirteen Reasons Why is a great TV show that illustrates numerous examples of conformity, and other social psychology concepts in general. The high-school years are such a volatile part of our lives with tons of emotions and opportunity for new experiences, making it also a socially educational part of our lives. Self esteem, self-verification, group pressure, persuasion, and violence are some more social psychology topics I think are relevant to the show.

    I enjoyed your examples on conformity. I found it especially interesting how Hannah transitions from public conformity to private conformity, and begins to truly accept the criticism from others. I reckon this played a major part in the last decision she made.

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    1. UnknownMarch 11, 2018 at 11:44 AM

      Hey Kyle! Thanks for your comments. Great suggestions for other psychological concepts outside of this chapter that apply to the show. I definitely agree, there is a lot that could be discussed. You mentioned self-esteem, something that is hugely important for Hannah in this show. Viewers can see how her self-esteem fluctuates throughout the series. For example, with each negative public interaction, taunting, or shaming, Hannah’s self regard decreases. As she becomes less confident in herself, it could be argued that Hannah start to act according to self-verification theory. She wants people to understand her according to her beliefs, and when that doesn’t work, she begins to conform.

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  4. Olivia GhormleyMarch 7, 2018 at 7:39 PM

    I think Thirteen Reasons Why thoroughly explains the effects of conformity, which is becoming a large issue in society today. I think teenagers in middle and high school really feel the overwhelming need to conform to what their peers are doing or want them to do because many teenagers fear ostracism. In middle and high school, most teenagers want to fit in and make as many friends as they can, so most are willing to do whatever it is they need to do in order to gain acceptance from their peers. Those that do not conform are usually considered strange and are ultimately ostracized from the rest of their peers. Thankfully, Thirteen Reasons Why shows viewers the negative emotional and physical effects that can take place if one chooses to conform to peer pressure.

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    1. UnknownMarch 11, 2018 at 4:46 PM

      Thanks for you comments Olivia! You mention that Thirteen Reasons Why shows the negative emotional and physical effects that can occur in response to peer pressure. I think this is a great point. It will be interesting to see if discussions in pop culture and media like the conversation sparked by this show will have lasting effects on how we interact with others.

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  5. rachelwelterMarch 8, 2018 at 1:53 PM

    I really enjoyed your post and very much enjoyed watching Thirteen Reasons Why. I also really do understand why there was so much criticism surrounding the show because the struggles that people face because of conformity are very real and are explained very well from this show. Do you feel that because it is so realistic that it shouldn't have been produced?

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    1. UnknownMarch 11, 2018 at 4:55 PM

      I think that there is a fine line of realism that this show walks on. Overall, I think the intentions and message that the show projects are worthwhile. At the same time, I understand the controversy that surrounds the show’s decisions to show Hannah’s suicide and the rapes that occur. The purpose of these images was to have a lasting and powerful impact on viewers and I think the show achieved that. I also think that things can always be interpreted differently. In my opinion, I think that realism was a justifiable choice in the end because of the seriousness of the issues discussed. If the producers had decided to tackle these issues using a different lens or by only speaking about their occurrences, the response to the show and the message would not have been as strong.

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  6. UnknownMarch 19, 2018 at 5:35 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. UnknownMarch 19, 2018 at 5:35 PM

    Thank you so much for your post on this show. I still have yet to watch the show, but I feel informed enough now to watch it intelligently. I personally feel that a lot of people get caught up in shows like this without necessarily thinking about the mechanisms of why the drama occurs and pay attention more to the drama itself. I think this lapse in what the producers want vs. what the viewers attain is why often times well-thought out films or series do not provoke the conversations they are meant to. Do you think that the audience of Thirteen Reasons Why are actually able to address the difficult topics the producers wanted them to on their own, or do you think that an analysis like this is necessary for the layman to reach that point?

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    1. UnknownMarch 20, 2018 at 9:08 AM

      Thanks for your comments! I think that you bring up a great discussion point about addressing topics in media and whether people are watching with deep analysis. I think that by watching the show, the overarching message can be received by layman. The show does a great job driving home the message that we need to be wary of the way that our actions influence others. As far as the social mechanisms and influences that lead to the final result, that is something that may require more analysis. I think one of the challenges we face in using mediums such as television shows to discuss serious social issues is that people are not necessarily watching to become informed. Many people are just looking for entertainment and can therefore overlook or miss the point.

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  8. UnknownMarch 20, 2018 at 6:07 PM

    I have not watched the show yet, but after reading your blog I think I will give it a try. I mostly stayed away from the show because of the bad reviews i have heard and read about it. What are some ways that you think schools could try and cut down on the bullying that leads students to such extremes like suicide, and do you think it is possible to stop such bullying altogether?

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  9. UnknownMarch 24, 2018 at 9:59 AM

    I was excited to read your blog post as I enjoyed the show! You did a wonderful job connecting conformity and persuasion into the show. I can see better the pool seen and how it played out into rape and Hannah thinking it was her fault. Unfortunate for the characters in the show but great for the public, I think the producers succeeded in bring a catalyst to talk about these tough issues. What do you think about clay and conformity? Moreover, how do you think the second season will continue showing these elements as the season ended with a hint to a school shooting?

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  10. UnknownMarch 25, 2018 at 9:10 AM

    When I watched this series I didn't notice Hannah's social conformity, but now that you pointed it out, it was very interesting to watch the clips you provided. It allowed me to see the clips from a different perspective. I'm glad you included links for information and help with topics such as suicide and bullying because I think it is important that people talk about these things. I think when people are afraid to talk about difficult subjects, they can become major problems.

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