Social influence, its concepts and ethics
Social influence, its concepts and ethics. What is social influence? It shows up in many different formats, for example there is Audience effects where a person may alter their behaviour due to someone watching them, then there is Co-action effects where sometimes a person will alter their behaviour when they are with different people, for example if you're a mother and a teacher, you would act differently with the two different types of people that you would deal with. One of the first people to look at social influence was Norman Triplett (1898) he did a study in which he had children one a time wind up a fishing reel and timed them, he then brought in more children to the same room and did the same again and timed them once again, he found that children were faster when there was other children around than on their own, to ensure the data was correct he even had them repeat it on their own afterwards. There was debate over if this was just competiveness or the effects of having the other children around making them want to be better. There is also social facilitation, which is where a task would be made easier if there are more people around; this is shown during Triplett's study with the children and the fishing reels. Social loafing is the tendency for people to perform worse on simple tasks, yet better at complex tasks when they are in the presence of others. In other
Conformity - psychologists view
Conformity Psychologists have long been interested in the area of social psychology that shows the extent of human conformity, proving that we are not designed as solitary creatures but our very own characters are determined by our social influences. Conformity influences social norms and helps guide individuals to function in an acceptable society. Many factors influence this vision of group phenomenon, group size, public opinion, cohesion, status and public opinion all help determine the level of conformity from a individual towards social norms. We are a tribal species and need to be accepted on some basic level to progress in life both Zimbardo & Leippe (1991) defined, "... a change in belief or behaviour in response to real or imagined group pressure" (Gross 2005 p442), many other luminaries in the world of social psychology support this theory of "yielding to group pressures" (Crutchfield 1948 p506). Aronson concurs with both his fellow psychologists' opinion by saying: "Conformity can be defined as a change in a person's behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people" (Aronson 2008 p234) Agreeing with the theme of a tribal human society Ridley writes: "... one way to understand ritual is as a means of reinforcing cultural conformity in a species dominated by groupishness and competition between groups.
A study into social representations of sexuality
Contents Page Abstract Page 2 Introduction Pages 3-8 Methods Results Discussion References Page 9 Appendix 1 Page 10 Appendix 2 Page 11 Appendix 3 Page 12 Abstract The main aim of this study was to investigate social representations of sexuality through the media of FHM magazine, in terms of body exposure. The hypotheses were that there would be more partially clothed women displayed than partially clothed men, and more fully clothed men displayed than women. This was a content analysis where all people featured in the magazine that were larger than an eighth of an A4 sheet of paper were counted. The men and women were classified separately into two categories: partially clothed or fully clothed. It was found that the greater proportion of those partially clothed were women, and the majority of those fully clothed were men. The results were statistically significant. This study concluded that women are portrayed as sexual objects more than men in FHM magazine. Introduction Social representations are common sense ideas, thoughts, images and knowledge which members of a group share, that help us to interpret and understand our social world. They explain attitudes towards complex concepts such as sexuality, intelligence or education. (However, they differ from culture to culture, for example, the
An Investigation into the way men and women attract the opposite sex through personal advertisements.
Psychology Module 6 An Investigation into the way men and women attract the opposite sex through personal advertisements. By Harry Morgan Abstract For my study I aim to produce a similar investigation as carried out by Dunbar. He researched into the way that the different sexes attract each other through personal advertisements in American newspapers. I shall re-create this study however, using the local Macclesfield newspaper. After analysing the content I predict that my results shall suggest the same trend as Dunbar's results: Women advertise attractiveness and youth whereas men offer wealth and financial stability. Having carried out the experiment, I found that my results did follow Dunbar's results' trend. Men advertise their resources whereas women advertise looks and youth. I used a tally to record the data and then produced a Chi score in order to analyse my results. I found that Chi Squared - 12.484. The Critical value at p - 0.05 (one trailed) - 3.84. This means that the difference is significant at a 5% confidence level so I can accept both my null and directional hypothesis which was that "There will be no significant difference between how men and women advertise themselves to the opposite sex." Introduction Darwin's theory of evolution suggests that humans naturally select other suitable humans to mate with in order to preserve and continue the human
Conformity & Obedience to Authority.
Conformity & Obedience to Authority * Conformity focuses upon the ways in which other people exert their influence upon us in such a way that we go along with them. For example some teenagers may go along with what their friends do when they themselves would have preferred to have gone elsewhere. * Conformity normally involves some kind of social pressure in which the individuals intentions conflict with those of the groups. This kind of social pressure is known as conformity. Below are three definitions of conformity. They all have a common theme; that other people bring about a change in an individual or at least induce a situation of conflict. "A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined Pressure from a person or group of people." Aronson (1998) "Yielding to a group pressures or expectations." Crutchfield (1995) "The tendency to allow ones opinions, attitudes, actions and perceptions to be affected by prevailing opinions, attitudes and actions." Reber (1985) * However this is hard to prove and since the 1930's this form of social influence has been studied experimentally using a variety of techniques. The major experimenters in this area are M.sherif, S. Asch, R.S.Crutchfield and S.Milgram, who are all social psychologists. * · MUZTAFER SHERIF (1935) When a stationary spot of light is seen in a dark room it
Theories of Asch and Tajfel
Organisation Behaviour MN20083 Using the theories of Asch and Tajfel, construct a reflective commentary on your experience of IMML to date. Use examples from 'remembered' incidents/ behaviours to construct this account, intertwining theory and practice (i.e. your experiences) to evidence how they relate to each other. When looking at the IMML group as a whole it is clear that within this group there exists several other, clearly defined groups, namely: the 3 formal language groups FIMML, GIMML and SPIMML, the formal division between seminar groups FIMML A and B and finally the smaller formal and informal groups that have arisen within the French subdivision. We decided to all work together on this project as we are all of different nationalities and felt that this would offer us a wider range of opinions and experiences within FIMML. Having never worked together before, we felt that everyone would have the chance to develop their opinions fully as no previous group norms have been established. We will focus upon our personal experience, firstly within IMML as a whole, then FIMML, as well as the differences that exist between FIMML A and B, finishing with the smaller aforementioned groups. We will primarily draw from our own experiences, both individually and as a group to see how Tajfel and Asch's theory of group behaviour apply to our own unique IMML experiences. *
Sport Psychology Researcher
Sport Psychology Researcher Task 1 "Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is an act of high courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal condition of existence coupled with the greatest possible freedom for self-determination." (Carl Gustav Jung, 1934) Sports performances can be put down to individual differences, personality theories have been linked to individual performances. There are three personality theories; * Biological This theory is some what controversial with no scientific proof backing it up. Sheldon classified personality according to body type. He called this a person's somatotype. There are three main somatotypes, . Endomorph- (fat, wide hips, plump) Relaxed, sociable, tolerant, comfort-loving, peaceful In sporting performance this somatotype could be said to be more laid-back and not so aggressive. 2. Mesomorph- (muscular, "v" shaped body) Active, assertive, vigorous, combative In sporting performance this somatotype could be said to be more aggressive than the other two, as the body should be more active than the other two. 3. Ectomorph- (skinny, poor muscles, bony) Quiet, fragile, restrained, non-assertive, sensitive In sporting performance this somatotype could be said to be
Obedience & Conformity: The Situation In Abu Ghraib
Transfer-Encoding: chunked Obedience & Conformity: The Situation In Abu Ghraib Conformity Over the years, different psychologists have explained conformity in a number of ways. Crutchfield (1995) defined conformity as ‘yielding to group pressure’ (Richard Gross, 2010). Mann (1969) agreed with Crutchfield’s definition b explained that conformity takes may different forms and all depends on the motives rather than group pressure. Famous social psychologist Zimbardo (1991) definition of conformity as a ‘change in belief or behavior in response to real or imagined group pressure when there is no direct request to comply with the group nor any reason to justify the behavior change’. Group pressure seems to be the common denominator when defining conformity. Group pressure is exerted by a chosen group at a given time that is important to the individual; such as significant other, family, peers (membership group), or a group, which the individual doesn’t belong to, but values and admires a person within the group (reference groups). Conformity involves yielding to real or imagined pressures of any group, whether it has majority or minority status (van Avermaet, 1996) Obedience Obedience involves altering your behavior because a figure of authority has told you to. Obedience is an active form of social influence in which it involves an individual in authority
This report will investigate the relationship between locus of control and professional life stress in people. The aim of this study is to look at whether they have an internal or external locus of control, which determines
A Study to Explore the Relationship between Locus of Control and Perceived Stress Levels Abstract This report will investigate the relationship between locus of control and professional life stress in people. The aim of this study is to look at whether they have an internal or external locus of control, which determines how the individual perceives and copes with situations and life events, and how stressed they are due to this. It is theorized that people with a high external locus of control have higher levels of reported stress. This study examined this theory by testing this effect on 186 participants. It found that there was a weak, positive correlation, and the result was not significant. Introduction Originally established within the structure of Rotter's (1954) social learning theory, Locus of Control assesses to what extent each individual perceives a factor or factors that he or she thinks may be responsible for the outcome of an event or situation. Different patterns of reinforcement then lead to differences in belief. An internal locus of control indicates that the individual's behaviour and other life events, whether positive or negative, are determined by internal factors; they are dependent on themselves and their ability to control or change life events or behaviours. In contrast, an external locus of control indicates that external factors, also
Analyse the Studies into the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony
Transfer-Encoding: chunked Introduction. Eyewitness testimony’s are a common tool used in court and is used by the jury to come to a verdict. Unfortunately, as many psychologists have proven, eyewitness testimonies are very unreliable. Memory is often defined as ‘’an internal record or representation of some prior event of experience’’(purdy, Markham , Schwartz & Gordon, 2001). Memory is on of the most important and valuable mental process and without memory we have no past because learning is lost. However, our internal record may be composed of less detail or more than the actual event or experience. In everyday life we father and store memory for later use, everything from the names of new business contacts to the location of our favorite store. During this process we accumulate vast amount of seemingly useless information e.g. what we had for dinner last night? Cognitive psychology explains learning process by gathering information and organizing it into mental schemata. Therefore, the way we select and use the information is what determines the relationship between any stimulus and response. (Karen Huffman, 2004) Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi Store Model In 1968, Atkinson and Shiffrin put forward two-stage theory of memory. They argued that we have two separate memory stores; a short-term one and a long term one. Their theory explained that the short
