The varieties of human behaviour are immense, and differ between societies, cultures and over different periods of time.
The varieties of human behaviour are immense, and differ between societies, cultures and over different periods of time. Deviant behaviour is just one form of human behaviour and it too comes in many different shapes and forms. Subsequently there are many different views of deviance, some of which will be considered in this essay. By definition, anything that is deviant goes against the 'norm'. Social deviance is anything that goes against the norm of a society. This may include people who are shorter than average; taller, cleverer, less intelligent and even those who are physically or mentally impaired in some way, such as blind, deaf, schizophrenic or suffering from epilepsy. This will vary between societies and different societies will have different views of what is deviant. Among the Mybuti pygmies tall people would be considered deviant while in the western world any adult under five foot tall would have difficulty finding clothing to fit them. In the 17th century the majority of the population were around four-foot tall, e.g. Napoleon. In many societies, Bali for example, people who suffer from physical disabilities are considered deviant, since their disability is thought to be the result of their behaviour in a previous existence and they are viewed as reaping their rewards or penalties from a previous. Criminal behaviour is one form of deviant behaviour, which is
How are 'youth problems' socially constructed?
How are 'youth problems' socially constructed? When people think of youths, several images come to mind and more often than not these are very negative. Youth is '...expected to be at an age of deviance, disruption and wickedness. When teenagers behave badly, they are typically fulfilling negative stereotypes about them.'1 They are seen as violent trouble-makers who have complete disregard for authority and rules and are above all lazy. It is true to say that a large percentage of crime can be accredited to youths, however, there are criminals within practically every age group and yet it is youths which are still especially targeted for being the 'bad' citizens in society. But why is this? In this essay I will attempt to answer two main questions, these being; firstly, what social influences encourage youths to become problematic and secondly, why does the adult generation particularly persecute teenagers. The first main aim is to define what social construction actually is. Social constructionism is understanding human behaviour in relation to the social environment and community surrounding it, in other words it is the influence that society has upon the actions or behaviour of individuals. In this case, how are youth problems born out of the influence of the social environment? How can a person be moulded by what is going on around them? So
Psychology of Criminal Conduct
ABSTRACT THIS STUDY EXAMINES THE EFFECTS OF DEFENDANT'S AGE AND DEFENDANT'S GENDER ON JURY DECISION MAKING. A TOTAL OF 240 JURY ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS FROM THE COMMUNITY ARE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ONE OF 4 CONDITIONS. EACH PARTICIPANT IS GIVEN INFORMATION REGARDING A VIOLENT CRIME WHERE THE DEFENDANT HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY AND ASKED TO INDICATE THE SEVERITY OF PUNISHMENT FOR THE DEFENDANT. THE HYPOTHESES ARE THAT THE AGE AND GENDER OF THE DEFENDANT WILL AFFECT THE SEVERITY OF PUNISHMENT. IT IS EXPECTED THAT WOMEN ARE LIKELY TO RECEIVE A MORE LENIENT SENTENCE THAN MEN IN THE FIRST INSTANCE BUT ALSO, THAT THE YOUNG MAN WILL RECEIVE THE HARSHEST SENTENCE AND THE OLD WOMAN THE LEAST HARSH. THE EFFECTS OF GENDER AND AGE ON SEVERITY OF SENTENCE The prison service in the United Kingdom is heavily over-crowded with young males. In England and Wales alone there were 69,700 males prisoners in October 2003. Of this, a shocking 15% were aged just 15 - 20 years old (www.homeoffice.gov.uk). Further, in October 2003, the number of juvenile males in the prison system increased by age - with 221 aged 15 years, 548 aged 16 years and 968 aged 17 years. Figures from the Home Office show that number of prisoners increase with age until aged 20 years where they begin to level out. Research into age as an influential factor on sentence severity has been scarce and what little research that has
When we commit the fundamental attribution error in explaining people's behaviour we overestimate the power of personality traits and underestimate the power of social influence. Discuss this statement with reference to Milgram's studies on obedience.
When we commit the fundamental attribution error in explaining people's behaviour we overestimate the power of personality traits and underestimate the power of social influence. Discuss this statement with reference to Milgram's studies on obedience. Milgram (1963) demonstrated that the majority of the subjects in his studies on obedience (65 per cent) - "average, decent American citizens" (Milgram, 1963. p.5 ) who had volunteered for a Yale University experiment on learning - would administer painful electric shocks up to 450 volts to another volunteer, despite the latter's protests. The findings of Milgram's studies are frequently cited as an example of the power of situational strengths in shaping behaviour and of the tendency to underestimate social influence and instead attribute people's behaviour to their dispositions or character, i.e. to commit the fundamental attribution error (e.g., Bierbrauer, 1979; Safer, 1980). With reference to the behaviour of the subjects in Milgram's studies on obedience this essay critically explores the claim that we commit the fundamental attribution error when we overestimate the power of personality traits and underestimate the power of social influence. The essay begins by outlining Milgram's basic procedure. It then discusses the extent to which Milgram's findings can be explained in terms of the power of the situation.
The Study of Gender-Based Stereotypes and Their Potential Impact to the Organization
Running head: MEN AND WOMEN OF THE CORPORATION Gender Roles: The Study of Gender-Based Stereotypes and Their Potential Impact to the Organization Student ID: 2540 (AP202) Southern Cross International College (Path Education Singapore) Gender Roles: The Study of Gender-Based Stereotypes and Their Potential Impact to the Organization The study of gender in organizations constitutes a major development in the sociology of gender. And stereotypical perceptions and feminity are hardly new. Throughout history, both men and women have been rewarded or penalized for adhering, or not adhering, to societal norms and models of appropriate communication behaviors for men and women. Now, as we venture into the twentieth century, rigid adherence to the communication behaviors dictated by gender-based stereotypes is not in our individual, dyadic, or collective best interest. Males and females now are working side by side in the marketplace, as more and more females are working outside the home. The gender perspective provides for a modern critical analysis of organizational behaviors with non-trivial implications for optimum human resource development. And this socioeconomic phenomenon of the twentieth century, suggests a need to develop greater understanding of gender-based stereotypes and their potential impact to the organization. The two main approaches found in the gender
Discuss the two basic styles of social interaction and the ways they can affect the development and
Discuss the two basic styles of social interaction and the ways they can affect the development and From a wide variety of possible styles of social interaction that might inevitably play a role in the development of independence and conformative behaviour in children, Subbotsky (1976) choose two styles which he considered to be particularly relevant to the development of independent and conformative behaviour. The first being an authoritarian style the second a democratic style, of which he wrote; In an authoritarian style of social interaction (ASI) one party has the opportunity of controlling, and in fact does control, the action of another in his or her interests; the other party does not have this possibility. In a democratic style of social interaction (DSI) , both parties have equal rights to control, and indeed do control, each other's actions according to certain common rules or programmes. (1). Subbotsky's decision to choose these two basic styles of social interaction was based on previous experiments he had conducted to determine which styles of interaction enhanced dependency in a child's behaviour. He found that when a child was put in a situation whereby they were allowed to take a leading, teaching, or controlling role in an accompanying adults actions, this was enough to eliminate the child's Global imitative attitude (GIA) towards the adult and to foster a
Discuss the nature, causes and consequences of bullying in schools.
Discuss the nature, causes and consequences of bullying in schools. Aggression is an intentional behaviour that causes or threatens to harm another or others and its' key element is intent. There are numerous different theories of aggression, which include developmental continuity (Loeber & Loeber, 1998), the theory applied by Lorenz (1969) which states that aggression is instinctive, the discharge model by Paul Kenyon and one of the most widely known, the Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura (1973). All of the above theories can be applied to aggression and they contribute different concepts and intervention philosophies. 'A student is being bullied or victimised when he or she is exposed repeatedly over time to negative action on the part of one or more other students.' (Olweus, D., 1993, pg. 9). It is necessary to distinguish between direct and indirect bullying. Direct bullying is when a person more or less opens attack on another child. Indirect is when a child will deliberately isolate or exclude another child from areas such as social groups or games. As indirect bullying is less visible due to it being less physical, it is very important that it is not ignored. One half of all violence against teenagers occurs in schools (NIDR, 1999, as cited in Weinhold & Weinhold, 2000) and it is thought that 80 to 90 percent of adolescents report some form of
A study to assess the effect gratitude has on happiness and positivity
A study to assess the effect gratitude has on happiness and positivity Lekha Ravichandran PID: 720020560 November 2010 Dr. Barbara Fredrickson PSYC 62: Positive Psychology ________________ ABSTRACT This experiment sought to investigate the level of happiness and positive outlook on life as dependent variables by practicing the “Three Blessings” (based on Emmons’ and Seligman’s studies) gratitude intervention. This exercise involves incorporating gratitude into everyday life in order to assess the positive impact it could have on overall well-being. The study is based on a self-experiment by a 17 year old college freshman, the only participant to partake in this research. It required an individual to keep a daily journal to write down three things one is grateful for at the end of every day for two weeks. A positivity ratio test and supplementary measures to test happiness and gratitude were taken immediately afterward and compared with previous three weeks of similar baseline data (sans gratitude intervention). Based on the data results, the overall level of well-being notably increased during the two weeks experimental situation, when the gratitude intervention was introduced, relative to the three weeks of the control period. This matches up to the previously carried out research by Emmons and Seligman. Therefore, it can be concluded there is a strong
Are Freud's Theories Of The Oral And Anal Personalities Like The Curate's Egg - Good In Parts?
Are Freud's Theories Of The Oral And Anal Personalities Like The Curate's Egg - Good In Parts? This question immediately raises the problem, "how are we to determine which parts of Freudian theory are 'good'?" Freud may well have argued that the evidence he documented from his psychotherapy sessions was sufficient, whilst behaviourists would demand that the various aspects of a theory could only be recognised as 'good' after being exposed to the full rigours of the scientific method. I personally don't feel that one can hope to design a repeatable experiment that will decisively illustrate the existence of, for example, the Oedipus complex. On the other hand I feel that we cannot simply accept a theory that has been moulded to fit a certain experimenters observations, coloured as they must be by their own personality, prejudices, and society. Therefore in this essay I will examine the empirical evidence from studies conducted on these most controversial of Freud's theories, and where that evidence appears on balance to give support to that particular theory, I will accept it as 'good'. As I said earlier some will regard this measure of worth as too lax to be of any use, whilst others will object to the application of science to the process of personality development, a process that is infinitely complex and unique, and so beyond science. Freud's theories of the oral and anal
In what ways have the traditional assumptions and approaches of scientific psychology been questioned, and what is replacing these in current practice?
In what ways have the traditional assumptions and approaches of scientific psychology been questioned, and what is replacing these in current practise? This piece of writing will firstly outline the assumptions asserted by, and the approaches used in scientific psychology before discussing a number of perspectives that in more recent years have challenged the traditional scientific paradigm. It will outline some common beliefs and alternative views about science and the 'scientific method', embracing the constructionist approach, the humanistic view and feminist perspectives - each of which have to a lesser or greater extent and at varying times, opposed the traditional scientific psychology. Furthermore, the essay will briefly identify and discuss the methods employed by each and show how such methodologies can be offered up as a broader critique of scientific psychology. The French philosopher Descartes was the first to discriminate between mind and matter (philosophical dualism), which in turn had an important impact on the development of both psychology as a science and science in general (Gross, 2005). Dualism meant that scientists were able to treat matter as inert and distinct from human beings, enabling them to describe the world in an objective way without reference to the observer. It was objectivity that became the ideal for science, and was extended to the study