Social Psychology Behaviors and Thoughts of People

Question: Outline and evaluate theories on majority conformity (e.g. informational social influence and normative social influence), minority influence, obedience and social change. For each theory, you need to include research studies that relate to them? Answer: Social Psychology is the study of the science of how the feelings, behaviors and thoughts of people are swayed with the help of the imagined, actual or implied presence of others. It is usually referred to as a discipline that had previously reduced the gap between sociology and psychology. However, these two disciplines have become isolated and specialized from each other in the past few years. The sociological approaches have remained an important correspondent to psychological research in this field. Conformity is used for indicating an agreement to the majority position, which is brought to the forefront to be correct, to be liked or to confirm a social role. [1] There are four categories of majority Conformity namely Normative Conformity, Informational Conformity, Compliance and Internalization. Normative Conformity yields to group pressure because an individual wants to fit in with a particular group. This can be explained by Aschs experiment. Solomon Asch conducted an experiment in 1951 to examine the extent to which social pressure from a group (majority) could influence an individual to confirm. After the experiment, it was proved that people confirm for two main reasons: firstly, they want to fit in with the particular group and secondly, they believe that the group has better information than they have.[2] The next theory is Informational Social Influence, which is a psychological phenomenon where an individual assumes the action of another individual to reflect the correct form of behavior for a particular situation. When an individual is in a state where he/she is not sure of their behavior and look to other individuals for correctin g his/her behavior, it is known as Informational Social Influence. Individuals are influenced by the behavior of others and make changes in their behavior accordingly. This can be proved by Sherifs Autokinetic Effect Experiment, which he conducted in the year 1935. Sherif conducted an experiment to demonstrate and prove that individuals confirm to norms of different groups when they are put in an uncertain and ambiguous situation. The results revealed that when an individual is in an uncertain situation, he has a natural tendency to imitate the behavior of other individuals to seek guidance. He may want to perform the right thing, but may lack the information, which is appropriate. When he observes others, he gains information about that particular situation and this is known as Informational Social Conformity[3]. Minority Influence is a form of social influence and it takes place when an individual of a minority group persuades a majority of people to accept the behavior or beliefs of the minority group. The minority group at the personal level feels this particular influence after a specific period and it tends to create acceptance of views and thoughts expressed. This statement can be related to the views of Moscovici, who made a distinction between conversion and compliance. Compliance is a very common term in the study of conformation, where the participants confirm to the norms of the group publicly. On the other hand, Conversion includes the influence of minority on the majority group. It involves the process of convincing the majority group that the views and thoughts of the minority group are correct. Moscovici also said that there are four factors, which influence the majority group to agree to the views of the minority group. The factors are thinking style, behavioral style, identif ication and flexibility. Obedience, in psychological terms, is compliance with orders or commands given by an authoritative figure. A research study (known as the obedience study) was conducted by the social psychologist Stanley Milgram (in the 1960s). The results of the experiment proved that individuals have a very strong tendency to have compliance with authoritative figures.[5] The sociologist found several factors that increase Obedience. Obedience was highest when: The commands were given by authoritative figures rather than any other volunteer The experiments were conducted at prestigious institutions The authoritative figure remained present with the said subject inside the room The learner was present in another room The subject did not watch other subjects disobeying the commands or orders. Social change can be referred to as an alteration in the social order of a particular society. It involves changes in social behaviors relations and institutions. It is a philosophical idea that believes that society moves forward by evolutionary or dialectical means. There are many theories that are related to Social change. They are the Marxist theory, the Hegelian theory, the Kuhnian theory, the Daoist theory and the Heraclitan theory. These theories proved that social change is a combination of systematic factors with some unique or random factors. [6] The Social structure includes the enduring patterns of relationship networks and behavior. Social Psychology includes social cognition, group processes, self-concepts, social influence, aggression, interpersonal processes, stereotypes and attitudes. It helps in analyzing the views and behavior of an individual and their dependency on other individuals to perform the correct thing. References Bernstein D,Psychology(Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 2012) Ciccarelli S and White J,Psychology(Pearson Prentice Hall 2012) Martin G, Carlson N and Buskist W,Psychology(Pearson 2013) Schacter D and others,Psychology(Palgrave Macmillan 2012) Shaver K,Principles Of Social Psychology(Taylor and Francis 2015) Tan L and Montague Jane M,Applied Psychology(World Scientific 2015) [1] Daniel L Schacter and others,Psychology(Palgrave Macmillan 2012). [2] G. Neil Martin, Neil R Carlson and William Buskist,Psychology(Pearson 2013). [3] Kelly G Shaver,Principles Of Social Psychology(Taylor and Francis 2015). [4] Saundra K Ciccarelli and J. Noland White,Psychology(Pearson Prentice Hall 2012). [5] Douglas A Bernstein,Psychology(Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 2012). [6] Kelly G Shaver,Principles Of Social Psychology(Taylor and Francis 2015).