Social Impact Theory: Conformity In The Presence Of Family

What is Social Influence Theory? Social Influence Theory is the change in behavior that another person causes, intentionally or unintentionally. Social Influence Theory has to deal with the social situations of people, and how they affect, persuade, or influence each other. This is especially relevant in today's society in the teenage generation with all their social medias and having high standards for social status that most people follow. Social Influence Theory has three areas that are evident in the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The characters Abigail and Tituba are good examples of being impacted or showing Social Influence.

People do not always cave into peer pressure. If that is true, then when do we break? When do we give in and conform? According to Bibb Penis Latané’s social impact theory, it all depends on three specific factors: strength, how important the group is to you; immediacy, how close the group is to you in space and time; and the number of people in the group. The last factor operates differently than you might think however—the larger a group is, the less each additional person has an influence on others. Ever since starting the first fight club, Norton’s character has garnered such a reputation that he has gained a following. People start showing up on his doorstep,

Peer pressure is the influence a peer group has on its members to fit into a particular way of thinking and behaving. When children are very young the major influences in their lives are their family and caregivers. Behaviour, attitudes and expectations in young children are learned from the modelling of others. This is the way we all learn, first from caregivers and then we include our peers when we start school and attend any activity away from family. Our Peers have a considerable influence on our behaviour and outlook on life as we all learn together. Youth spend large amounts of time with Peers, who are learning about themselves as they grow up.

Many individuals is faced with the decision of conforming or choosing personal desire, and it is not an easy decision. It is hard because being shunned by others for being different is not a good feeling. Choosing to conform over personal desire, often leads to loss. On the other hand, personal desire is what sets others apart and gives them joy. In the poem, “The Jackhammer Syndrome”, Al Purdy discusses the good and bad memories he has experienced. He goes through his memories of when he had fun and made mistakes, but he reflects on what he could have done better. The author of “The Jackhammer Syndrome informs against choosing the welcoming joy of conformity over the long-term gains of personal desire. Making the decision to pursue conformity over personal desire may seem easy at first, but if the choice is to conform, the joy it gives will not last. Making the decision to pursue conformity over personal desire Conformity may seem to give joy at first, but it does not last. When Al is playing pool with his brother, he wants to win badly, but losses. However when he did not care to win, Al wins! Conforming can lead to loss but personal desire has much to gain. If the choice is to conform, personal identity may be lost. In my life, I recognize several instances in which I found several similarities between Al and myself. I have made decisions that were not always good ones such as swimming across long distances with friends.

Conformity is a concept that has been heavily researched in the field of social psychology. Conformity is defined as a change in behavior, beliefs, and attitudes due to group pressure perceived as real (encompassing the presence of others) or imagined (encompassing the pressure of social standards) (Myers, 2010, p. 192). The concept of conformity is a powerful influence on the tendency for people to arrange their thoughts, perspectives, and ideas with others, especially when in a group. This takes away from a person’s individuality because they want to feel accepted by others and therefore, a person will accomplish this basic need of approval through conforming.

The contents of this assignment will include multiple psychological theories to explain what ways an individual’s behaviour changes when he/she is part of a group. These theories will define social influence, conformity procedures within groups and social cognition, including the self-categorisation theory. Social groups are used in everyday living to represent beliefs, to work, play and to socialise. Groups can have a negative effect on an individual. Not been part of a group due to exclusion or stereotyping can create a negative effect.

Conformity is a type of social influence which involves a change in behaviour and belief of a minority to fit in with the group concerning real or imagined group pressures. This behaviour could be defined as the pressure to behave in ways that are viewed as acceptable by a particular group, brought about either by a desire to ‘fit in’ or be liked. The main factor that influences conformity are social norms. Social Norms are a pattern of expected behaviour in certain situations either implicitly or explicitly. Conformity exists in two categories, normative influence where the individual’s desire is to gain social approval and acceptance from the group to make a favourable impression. And informational social influence where a person is looking for guidance in an ambiguous situation as the individual listens to other member 's views and opinions to be guided to an answer. Conformity is distinguished in three different types; Compliance is the most superficial type of conformity. It refers to a person who conforms publicly with the views and attitudes expressed by the group but still continue to privately disagree. This temporary short term behavioural change which often results normative social influence. For example, It is a student 's first day of college, but has arrived late and missed the induction to which he doesn 't know where to go. He then sees a group of students filing off towards a corridor and

They describe the individual as part of a group or indirectly influenced by a group. Based on these three independent variables we based our hypotheses as such:

In our society influence, is the power a person (or group) holds over a general population. Positive influence uses the power held over the population for an overall good, whether this be by helping others,being inspiring and well spoken. Positive influence is demonstrated by powerful people ,up to whom the population looks and aspires to be like.They display the traits above by creating and donating to charities, participating in social movements and challenging not only themselves but others to be better people . These traits influence society positively because when the general public see these idols and celebrities doing these things they are more likely to mimic them, and in turn will grow to become model citizens in the same

The researcher sees their peers conforming to current fashions, hair styles, and behaviors daily in school. This topic is worth studying because while the test being run demonstrates a harmless example of conforming to what a group of people are doing, there are many crazes and issues that adolescents and young adults choose to follow, regardless of if they are safe or intelligent choices being made. Peer pressure is “influence from members of one's peer group”. According to an article written on peer pressure by a website called Parent Further, only 10% of teenagers that were surveyed claimed to never have made choices that were guided by peer pressure. In that same group, 28% of the subjects reached an agreement with each other that giving in to peer pressure made their social status stronger and nearly half of the subjects admitted to taking part in bullying someone only after they witnessed a friend being a bully. Drug and alcohol

The experiment conducted by students in a social psychology class, used the same method that Milgram used to show how people conform to a group. The study found similar results to Milgram’s study, although it was conducted on a smaller campus with less people. Being that the outcome of the experiment was similar to the results of most other studies on conformity, it reinforced the idea that a group easily influences people. Based on the results of the previous studies mentioned above, it was hypothesized that more students and faculty passing by a crowd would conform when the crowd was

Since I was little I have been told what is “right” and what is “wrong” in the world as a member of the society. According to my parents there are certain behaviors that are accepted in society such as being a good citizen (not causing any trouble, being a good student, being friendly, etc.) But then again, the question is: are all these actions being done because we really want to do them, or is it more because is what society thinks is correct to do? Growing up in a society that is constantly telling people how they are supposed to dress, how they need to behave, or even what music is okay to listen to can cause societal conformity, and it can bring negative effects in some people who conform to society. People should not conform to the norms

In chapter eight we learned about social influences and a part I found appealing was the section on the power of social norms, which is the “unspoken but shared rules of conduct in a formal or informal group.” Basically, it means that the social world can impact our lives by peer pressuring us into acting out in a behavior that is out of our character. However, falling into that group norm would be a characteristic of conformity. An example would be someone that is peer pressured into taking drugs, but after time becomes adapted to that behavior and continues to

In today life people generally tend to conform in many situations to blend in and to live their life peacefully. They may feel safer doing so and more acceptable by society if they don’t stick out with ideas opposite or different to the “main stream”.

“Social influence is the process by which the actions of an individual or group affect the behavior of others” (Feldman 495). These influences are strongly experienced by members in the group. Every group is unique and is mostly guided by a particular norm and behavior. An individual in a group passively or actively allows himself to be influenced by the group just to have a sense of belongingness. In the bid to prevent being excluded or rejected from a group, some individuals overtly adhere to the norms of the group. “Thus, people conform to meet the expectations of the group” (Feldman 495).