Preview

Group Influence

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1200 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Group Influence
Group Influence
Eva Chadwick
PSY/400
12/15/2015
Dr. Wade Lijewski
Group Influence
Throughout history, social groups and primary groups represents individuals who associates a connection with comparable others. Giving a presence of homophily within a group of people who share similarities like age, culture, social status, and even religious beliefs. However, a group never begins with three or four different individuals who have dissimilar views or perspectives. Groups begins with one, two, or three individuals who have different beliefs, views, and opinions. These individuals or individual looks for others that share similarities, so that he or she could join “the cause.” These individuals or individual persuade others to change his or her views to the communicator’s beliefs or views, so he or she could also join the cause. The point of the matter is that groups can influence or persuade others to believe in what the group believes in (Myers, 2010). Such beliefs could cause a positive or negative impact in which its outcome depends on the type of message the group communicates. However, positive groups are still within today’s society that influences others to live life with morals and good values. A group that persuades teens and young adults to join the meetings that changes bad behavior to good behavior, abstinence, and how to live a life without drugs and violence. The group of teens and young adults who calls him or herself “Oasis de Vida Eterna” (Oasis of Eternal Life).
The youth group of Oasis of Eternal Life have been around for eight years and dedicates every Friday night to have a meeting. In each meeting the group discusses different topics that pertain to anti-drug use, anti-violence, abstinence, and behavior modification. Even though Oasis of Eternal Life have different groups, such as men’s group, women’s group, teen and young adult group, juvenile group, and child group. The focus of this observation will be on the teen and young adult group.



References: Bernheim, D. B. (1994). A theory of conformity. Journal of political economy, 102(5), 841-877. McCord, F. (1948). The evolution of norms. The journal of social psychology, 27(1), 3-15. Myers, D. (2010). Social psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Weeks, M., & Lupfer, M. B. (2000). Religious attributions and proximity of influence: An investigation of direct intervention and distal explanations. Journal for the scientific study of religion, 39(3), 348-362.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    James, Kevin. "Social structure and the effects of conformity." Zollman, Kevin James and Spears. Synthese. Dordrecht: Springer Science & Business Media, 2010. 317-340. Print. <http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2048/login?url=http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2125/docview/807427937?accountid=38295>.…

    • 1677 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Conformity is defined as a change in a person’s behaviour/opinions as a result of a real or imagined pressure from a person or group. Kelman distinguished three stages of conformity: compliance, identification and internalisation. When a person complies they are known to agree with the majority opinion publically, however, they do not truly have the same opinion therefore privately they do not adhere to these opinions. When a person identifies with the views of the majority and adopts publically and privately as they value membership yet when they leave the group they return to previous beliefs they had before joining the group. Internalisation is classified as full acceptance of the majorities’ ideas by the individual as they welcome the group’s values into their belief system.…

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    As social beings, with each one of us connected to a whole network of other humans and their associated beliefs, opinions and traits practically every conscious second of the day, it is inevitable that we will be subject to external influences. These influences come in all shapes and forms from a whole multitude of sources, occurring both consciously and unconsciously, instantaneously or over a prolonged period of time, with the potential effect of these influences ranging from the immaterial to the life-changing. While our susceptibility to influence from the connected world around us can be hard to measure given our constant exposure to several different influences, social psychologists have been able to study the world of influence within a group context with some success, led by the likes of Asch and Moscovici. The principal questions which have provided direction to these studies include why people conform in groups and whether some people more likely to conform than others. One will address these two questions in the text below, while also looking to explain what “minority influence” is, and how it differs to what is considered majority influence.…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    nonconformity of norms accepted by most people, is determined by the reactions of others to the…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Many forms of social conformity exist but a correct definition would realize it as a phenomenon that occurs when an individual’s values, beliefs, behaviors, and attitude are influenced by either one person (minority influence), or by a group of people (majority influence) who establish norms” (Sadat, 2011, p. 2). During conformity people change the way they behave in response to social pressures. Whether it has been consciously or unconsciously, by accepting the dominant culture’s expectation, one has conformed. What people say and how they behave are vastly influenced by others (Sadat, 2011).…

    • 1515 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The purpose of this book is to present a theory of conformity created by the author. It observes social interaction where individuals care about status and utility that comes from consumption. The status of a person is decided by what others think of them instead of how that person acts, although the way they act can affect their status. Status is thought to be important but most people conform to one single standard on how to behave because they notice that even the slightest amount of a departure from the social normalities and there can harm their status. Society disapproves of nonconformists and therefore…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    how groups influence people, with emphasis as how people are influenced by their society. We explore how…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    <br>Although scholars of new religious movements would agree that religious groups often have substantial influence over their followers, they would also argue that the "influence exerted in "cults" is not very different from influence that is present in practically every arena of life," (19 Oct 1999). Mainstream religions also exercise influence over their members concerning matters such as lifestyle choices, familial relations and monetary donations. Furthermore, most social scientists concede that some degree of influence is inevitable in each culture and facet of life even outside the arena of religious choice.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Conformism is a topic that appears to be fascinating in the research world due its ability to influence the decision making process. The author mentions that conformism was not well known or studied until the 1950’s when Solomon Asch conducted a study. The author refers to conformism as an individual’s skewed decision making due to the societal norms of the particular group. Societal norms are the implied beliefs and rules of a group. The author offers the views of society and psychologists when analyzing conformism. When presented with a situation one generally airs on the side of caution and chooses an answer or action that will make them fit in even though it is not their true opinion. The author introduces a specific type of conformity called perceptual conformism. Perceptual conformism…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A norm is a set of rules based on socially or culturally shared beliefs of how an individual is “supposed to” behave. They regulate behaviour within a group. Conforming to group norms results in a positive and valued social identity and we receive the desired respect from others. Conformity is an indirect form of social influence that involves a change in behaviour in order to fit in with a group. The need to belong plays a strong role in the desire to conform to group norms.…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conformity

    • 2670 Words
    • 11 Pages

    In this article, the two authors and put out three different proposals in order to identify conformity in individuals. Firstly, they stated that there will be more conformity present when the subject’s responses are public rather than when they are private. Their second proposition indicated that there will be more conformity when the stimulus is ambiguous. This basically just puts out there that the subject’s will have little confidence in their initial judgments as opposed to when it is unambiguous. Thirdly, the two experimenting result seekers designated that there will be no conformity when no one else agrees with the subject than when the subject is faced with a non-unanimous majority. The researchers tested these three findings by providing college students from Michigan State University with questionnaire’s that were placed in a locked ballot box and were distributed in a random order in which the subject’s would never know which individual would have what form. There were four different kinds of forms utilized. All survey questionnaires were a part of various political and social issues. Three of the forms displayed different responses from a…

    • 2670 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Social Influence

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The ways in which people think, feel and behave are investigated through social psychology (Kowalski & Westen, 2005). Social psychology is a process that examines the way in which social settings influence one’s actions. People react to others in many different ways. The way in which someone behaves or acts, changes based on their environment and beliefs (one on one versus group settings) and based on biases, stereotypes, attributions, attitudes, self impressions and first impressions. There are both external and internal attributes that causes inferences about the causes of one’s thoughts, behavior and feelings (Kowalski & Westen, 2005).…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this journal, the topics that I will be discussing are public conformity, private conformity and the norm of reciprocity. Public conformity means a superficial change in behavior without a corresponding change of opinion that is produced by real or imagined pressure. This means people will go along with being told to do something, due to feeling pressure to comply. An example of this would be going to a wedding because you know that it is your responsibility to show up once you have already RSVP’d. You conform publicly because you know that it is what you’re supposed to do although you may not want to go at all. Private conformity means the change of beliefs that occur when a person privately accepts the position taken by others.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psychology Social Influences

    • 8721 Words
    • 81 Pages

    ! ! ! ! ! AS PSYCHOLOGY UNIT 2 (PSYA2) ! SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: Social Influence 2014-2015 ! ! ! ! ! ! Name: ……………………………………………………
 Unit 2 – Social Psychology – Social Influence Alton College (Updated Sept 2013) ! THE SPECIFICATION What you need to know: ! Social Influence • Conformity (majority influence) and explanations of why people conform, including informational social influence and normative social influence. • Types of conformity, including internalisation and compliance. • Obedience to authority, including…

    • 8721 Words
    • 81 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays