Social Influences on Behavior - Research Paper Example

? Social Influences on Behavior Paper Social Influences on Behavior Paper Human behaviors tend to be influenced by other people and in various social situations. In many cases, people are not aware of issues that contribute to a change in their behavior and emotions while in certain places. This is because human interaction entails various actions that occur when two or a number of human beings interact with one another. In human beings, social influences occur because situations and settings of everyday obligations requiring a different set of mannerism. For example, through social psychology, there is clear evidence that people act or demonstrate different behaviors when they are at their working places or with their friends. This means that human behavior changes are based on the social situation experienced by the concerned persons. This paper gives to example of human behaviors that tend to change because of social situations. One of the two examples relates to the driving behavior enacted by most of the young drivers in various social situations. In the presence of older and experienced drivers, the young drivers tend to drive faster than usual. In this situation, the young drivers who are mostly teenagers try to move faster in order to get closer to vehicles with the older drivers (DiClemente, Crosby & Kegler, 2009). The behavior that occurs because of social influence seems to portray inexperience of the young drivers. The behavior portrays that the young drivers take greater risks of accident occurrence in this situation. Moreover, the passengers who may be present also influence the behavior of the young drivers (DiClemente, Crosby & Kegler, 2009). For example, male teenage drivers tend to drive faster in the presence of their male friends compared to when they are alone (DiClemente, Crosby & Kegler, 2009). This translates that their friends influence them to engage in a faster and probably unsafe driving that may cause accidents. One of the factors that may contribute in portraying this behavior is a show of being best and undefeatable on the roads. Similarly, DiClemente, Crosby & Kegler (2009) illustrates that teenage female drivers tends to drive faster when there are male passengers in their vehicles. The female drivers tend to get closer to the car in front of them when they are with their male friends. However, this does not happen when the female drivers are with their female friends (DiClemente, Crosby & Kegler, 2009). This translates that the female divers portray this behavior because of social influence. They tend to portray the behavior in order to show their male counterparts that they can do the same as them and even better. In the presence of teenage female passengers, the male teenage drivers tend to go with a moderate speed (DiClemente, Crosby & Kegler, 2009). They also try to drive at the same speed as the older and experienced drivers while with female friends. Therefore, this example illustrates that teenage passengers contributes much in providing a social influence in the driving behavior of their friends of the same age. The social influence tends to alter the risky consequences that may occur because of the teenage driving behavior. The associated phenomenon with the teenage driving behavior tends to be influenced by social facilitation. Most of the teenagers try to drive better in order to show their experience in the presence of their teenage friends. However, they end up risking their lives because of driving beyond their experience and ability. The teenage driving behavior does not necessitate therapeutic intervention. The only requirement that is necessary for teenagers to change this behavior is to do what they can without exaggerating on their driving ability. The teenagers do not require any intervention services to change their driving behaviors. They require understanding the risk they pose themselves into, while trying to show how best they are when driving. The other example relates to a sidewalk experiment showing social influence on people’s behavior. A group of people stood in various different numbers in one of the busy New York streets (Coon, Mitterer, Talbot & Vanchella, 2010). All the people in the groups looked on one of the windows in a sixth floor building that was across the street. With the help of a camera, the number of passersby was recorded. The camera showed the number of all the people who were influenced to look at the window while passing. According to the figures that were identified, the more the number of people looking at the window increased on the street; the more people were influenced to stop and stare (Coon et al., 2010). This indicated that many people were distracted from their business and influenced to stare at the window, something they had not planned. This situation happened because of social influence where most of the people find themselves in a situation that they could not be able to control in time simply because of curiosity. Some of the consequences that occur in behavior like this include waste of time by the passersby while looking at something that was not in their timetable of activities (Coon et al., 2010). The situation of people being influenced to stare at the window is a significant example of groupthink. All the people who managed to stop on the street and stare at the window were influenced by the idea of one person. Most of the people stopped from what they were doing without considering their assumptions. This means that they stopped without making clear decisions of what they would gain after spending their time staring at the window. This behavior necessitates therapeutic intervention. For example, a person who finds him/herself in such a behavior of being disrupted by the influence of others may seek psychological assistance to stop the behavior. An example of a social mental disorder caused by social influence is depression. This mental disorder may emerge because of various social influencing factors that include unemployment and lack or poor housing (Briddon, Baguley & Webber, 2008). Failure to achieve some of the basic social needs leads to the occurrence of depression. The other mental disorder that tends to emerge because of social influence is anxiety. This disorder is influenced by various social factors like socio-economic position (Briddon, Baguley & Webber, 2008). Some of the medical illness that tend to occur because if social influence include stress. This mental illness emerges after having depression for a long period. Some of the causes of stress might be poverty in the society and problem of unemployment (Briddon, Baguley & Webber, 2008). Another mental illness that comes because of social influence is schizophrenia. This mental illness is characterized by psychological conditions like occurrences of depression for a long time. ReferencesTop of Form Bottom of Form Briddon, J., Baguley, C., & Webber, M. (2008). The ABC-E Model of Emotion: a biopsychosocial model for primary mental health care. Journal Of Mental Health Training, Education & Practice, 3(1), 12-21. Coon, D., Mitterer, J. O., Talbot, S., & Vanchella, C. M. (2010). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. DiClemente, R. J., Crosby, R. A & Kegler, M. C. (2009). Emerging Theories in Health Promotion Practice and Research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Read More