An Investigation of the Motives of Women’s Lies in the Novels of Simin Danshvar on the Basis of Conformity Theory of Elliot Aronson

Interdisciplinary studies in human sciences forms a new perspective and has produced valuable results in its short life since it has developed the frontiers of human sciences. The present study has tried to analyze the characters in the novels of Simin Daneshvar through the application of Conformity Theory of Eliott Aronson, a contemporary social psychologist. A second look at the characters in her novels reveals that they have appealed to telling lies to conform to others. This study, using a descriptive-analytic approach, searched for the instances of the three components of conformity (compliance, identification and internalization) in the novels. The effects of three influential factors in the conformity of the story characters, that is, the sender, the message and the receiver, are identified. The main text under study is Souvashoon. However, sometimes the two other novels, The Island of Wandering and The Wanderer Cameleer have been used for further analysis. Owing to the fact that the majority of the characters in the novels are women and the stories have been narrated from their viewpoint, the reasons for telling lies by female characters in the novels of Simin Daneshvar are discussed.  This research project was conducted through the use of library research and note taking.