Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group Processes - Essay Example

Page (You Must Complete) People would appear to take individual changes for granted while simultaneously remaining oblivious to the events that contribute to or otherwise cause those changes. How an individual interacts with groups or social worlds, the author included, is often associated with these notions of conformity. Individuals often feel or otherwise perceive the need to behave in a manner which reinforces conformity rather than thinking critically or behaving independently. Some of the reasons that people conform include a perceived belief that group behavior is based on accurate premises and information, a desire to be liked or wanted by a group, or when an individual is uncertain or lacks confidence. The author will discuss a personal experience, the use by peers of alcohol and later drugs, that resulted in the author breaking free of conformist pressures and emerging stronger and more independent in the author’s social world. Personal Position Paper: Interaction in a Social World Introduction Too often, it would seem, individuals progress through life without careful reflection. People would appear to take individual changes for granted while simultaneously remaining oblivious to the events that contribute to or otherwise cause those changes. People sometimes claim feelings of powerlessness and impotence when living their lives, they feel unable to truly control their destiny, and life in many ways begins to feel somewhat random and meaningless. This personal position paper will argue, however, that life is not so random or unpredictable. More specifically, this paper will suggest that individual self-reflection, as it pertains to an individual’s interaction with different groups in the social world, can not only explain to some extant how different behaviors and performances become manifest but also how individuals may begin to control their behavior and destiny to a greater degree. Social World: Individual Minds, Social Groups, and Behavior As an initial matter, it is important to note that social psychology is concerned with how individuals fit into or otherwise interact with a social world. The social world concept, however is not monolithic; quite the contrary there are several social spheres, of different social worlds in which an individual does and may interact. The questions posed often relate to how an individual engages in self-perception, how individuals are influenced, as an individual relates and interacts with others in different social circumstances and settings. Generally speaking, therefore, a particular social world may be considered conceptually as the relationship and interaction of individual minds, particular groups, and consequent behavior. Self-perception at the individual level, as with individual behavior linked to such self-perception, tends to be dynamic rather than static. Perception evolves and changes over time and tends, from a social psychology perspective, to manifest these changes or modifications in terms of different types of behavior or modified behavioral patterns. The main idea is that human beings, as individual minds interacting with different social groups, change over the course of time. One research theme which permeates social psychology pertains to individual conformity in group settings; more particularly, years of research have demonstrated that individuals tend to conform to group behavior for a variety of reasons (Abrams & Hogg, 1998). Some of these reasons include a perceived belief that group behavior is based on accurate premises and information, a desire to be liked or wanted by a group, or when an individual is uncertain or lacks confidence (Durkin, 1995). How an individual interacts with groups or social worlds, the author included, is often associated with these notions of conformity. Individuals often feel or otherwise perceive the need to behave in a manner which reinforces conformity rather than thinking critically or behaving independently. The remainder of this personal position paper will discuss the author’s interaction with a particular social world, the pressures to conform, and how a decision not to conform constituted a significant personal event which created significant changes in the author’s personal world. Personal Interaction: The Author’s Peers and Conformity For a person of the author’s age there are few social worlds more influential than the family and peer groups; to be sure, each type of social world exerts its own pressures to conform in different ways. The family group is more constraining and manifests a more conservative sort of social world. The child ought to conform to family values, to place family interests above other social worlds, and not engage in behavior perceived or otherwise deemed to be threatening to the family group. At the same time, as the author grew and developed the social world became more and more influential. As suggested by the literature, there developed a more pronounced need to be liked and to be wanted. The pressure to conform to the social world represented by the peer grew thus became more desirable and more tense as certain behaviors practiced by the peer group conflicted with and contradicted behaviors practiced by the family group. As the author’s life progressed, therefore, two different social worlds created a tension that would eventually cause a significant change for the author. After all, the author could not conform to separate and contradictory sets of behavior. A choice, a change, in the author’s social world had become imminent. In the instant case, the peer group had evolved from ice cream and soda to alcohol and other temptations. A member of the group would typically secure some sort of alcoholic beverage and invite other members of the group to experiment by drinking the alcohol. Interestingly enough, these occasions were marked by enthusiasm and excitement rather than fear or by disdain. Members of the group would hide away in a house or a park and pass around a bottle or cans of alcohol. Thinking back now, trying to reflect on the internal conflicts that the author certainly experienced, I wonder if any other members of the author’s peer group were as hesitant and uncertain. The aforementioned literature suggests that members conform because they believe that the majority understands the implications of their behavior, because they want to be liked or feel wanted, or because they lack the confidence to act independently. All of these factors, to varying degrees, affected the author’s behavior at those particular times and at those particular places. The author did not consider the short-term or the long-term implications at that time; instead, conformity reigned because a few sips of alcohol seemed harmless and natural. That some members of the peer group would thereafter begin drinking more heavily or turn to drugs was not considered at the moment. There was also a very strong desire to be liked by members of the peer group and to be liked and admired. In this way, participating in this behavior almost functioned as a sort of initiation rite. Engaging in this behavior would validate one’s membership in the group and secure these feelings of self-worth and belonging. Finally, though the author’s peer group feigned confidence and wisdom there was certainly some uncertainty on the author’s part. The author was fully aware, for instance, that such behavior was illegal for people of this age and that the social world represented by the family frowned upon such behavior. Nonetheless, consistent with the aforementioned research the author conformed without complaint and feigned confidence. As time progressed, and the peer group began to experiment with riskier behaviors, the author experienced an event that caused a definite change in the author’s interaction with the social world. As one might expect, certain members of the peer group evolved from alcohol to drug use. The pressure to conform became stronger as some members of the group demonstrated resistance. The author, most certainly, viewed drug use as fundamentally more dangerous than the earlier use of alcohol and openly refused to participate. The effects of such resistance and criticism were severe and immediate. The author was at risk of being ostracized, said to be taking the issue much too seriously, and considered less of an insider. The author could have conformed, could have preserved the insider status, but the risks were too great. This experience, refusing to conform to group behavior, changed forever in a positive way the author’s interaction with the social world. The aforementioned family values were preserved and reinforced. The author learned that one need not conform to find social validation or acceptance in ways that are more personally comfortable and acceptable. The author’s world is a safer and more pleasing world as a result of this experience. References Abrams, Dominic & Hogg, Michael A. (1998). Social Identifications: A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group Processes. Routledge: London. Durkin, Kevin (1995). Developmental Social Psychology: From Infancy to Old Age. Blackwell Publishing: Cambridge. Read More