Social Influences on Behavior - Essay Example

?Running head: social psychology Social Influences on Behavior Social psychology supports the fact that human behavior is greatly influenced by other people, or the people involved in the interaction, and the situation. The social psychological perspective thus relates to the aspects that result from presence of others, which cause certain behaviors and actions to be produced by individuals. Van Lange et al (2007) explain that the three most significant elements of human behavior in any social interaction include the person, the interaction partner and the situation. The interaction partner and the situation along with the individual’s inclination towards the situation or action influence the outcome. Human interactions and behavior in a social situation can be multifaceted in terms of the outcomes. In social situations, these interactions can either bring about better, lower or distorted outcomes or actions from the individual or the group. In this discussion, influence of social situation on human behavior will be examined and two specific social psychological phenomena will be studied in brief. Further, reasons for these behaviors along with the outcomes associated with the behaviors will be assessed before concluding with key findings. Human beings tend to perform better when in a group, and even better when they are being watched and are being chased. This is probably the reason for many organizations to adopt the team working concept and also doing the performance measurement. When people are in a sort of competition with each other, they tend to perform more than what they would when they are working to achieve specific targets. The most prominent example of such behavior can be seen in any sports activity. In a sports event, such as a car race, the participants tend to drive at much greater speeds than they could during the practice sessions; this is because they had to achieve what they desired for and also because they were being watched by some thousands of people, which included the participants’ family and friends too. Human beings have an inclination towards being wanted, appreciated and favored for which they would go to any extent (Baumeister & Bushman, 2010). The same tendency works the best when human beings are confronted with situations that seem challenging and are the deciding factors for them to earn their close associates’ liking. These tendencies cause the person to perform his/her best; and, these tendencies can be considered to be the precursors to the behavior that helps in achieving results that are much greater than the previous ones. As a result of these behaviors, participants also experience high self-esteem and self-confidence. From psychology perspective, such behavior is referred to as social facilitation (Baumeister & Bushman, 2010). A personal experience that relates to such behavior is that of an otherwise unhelpful neighbor who reacted in a very helpful way during the community meet. This neighbor was appreciated and thanked for his contribution in scheduling and conducting the community meet. His involvement in the meeting was highly evident by the way he cooperated with the other community members. This neighbor neither spoke to the members at other times, nor helped them when needed. During the meeting, his demeanor was completely opposite as he was aware that he was being watched by many others and that he wanted to be appreciated and liked. Due to his unfriendly nature and behavior, this person had attracted hostile reactions from the community members, which was probably the reason for him to behave in friendly and cooperative manner and an urge to earn people’s liking drove him to take the additional responsibility. The result of this social behavior was a natural appreciation and approval of community members. Another human interaction that occurs in social situations in the absence of any one of the essential elements is the process of social loafing. Social loafing occurs when the individuals interacting do not possess the required resources or skills, or are not facing a similar challenge or situation, or when the individual’s dominant response does not correspond with the group’s goal. Such factors usually result in lower motivation levels among individuals (Forsyth, 2009), and bring about results that are quite different from the outcomes of social facilitation. In social psychology, this phenomenon is referred to as the social loafing. Social loafing is highly evident in most organizations, especially in team setups. On one hand, group or team working enhances performance of each individual due to social facilitation; on the other, it can also reduce the normal productivity capacity of a specific individual. The most common causes of lower outcomes include lack of sufficient skills and competences as well as misaligned or nonaligned goals and self interests. In a group, people tend to work less when they realize that other group members are also performing the same task and contributing towards achievement of the team goals. The chances of social loafing in groups or teams are higher when individuals experience identity crisis, i.e., when individuals feel that their efforts are being unnoticed. When individuals lack the required skills to perform or compete with others, social loafing creeps in because such members are not motivated to perform. The overall productivity outcome of a team suddenly dropped when the team leader was changed because two of its members’ performances drastically reduced. When confronted, it was evident that these individuals felt that their previous performance was unnoticed and not appreciated by the previous leader. As a result, these two members paired up to decide not to exceed their targets when other team members were able to complete the work. Lack of appreciation or identity crisis is the precursor for social loafing in this situation; consequently, the team’s overall productivity dropped and work pressure increased on other members. Motivation levels are also affected, which could be a greater threat to the team members and the organization. To conclude, social psychology provides a strong platform for understanding human behaviors and interactions as well as the reasons for certain undesirable outcomes. Social interactions are influenced by the individuals, the group members and the situation. While social facilitation enhances human performance or the outcomes, social loafing has an opposite impact and can also suppress the outcomes in some cases. In social facilitation, human behavior is also dependent upon the level of person’s interest and inclination towards the object or goal; moreover, the human tendency for being wanted, appreciated and liked play major role in producing enhanced outcomes. If the individual does not experience these feelings, then he/she may sort to social loafing at times. From social psychological perspective, it can be said that these interactions and behaviors also have an influence on people’s personality, confidence and character. References Baumeister, R.F and Bushman, B.J. (2010). Social Psychology and Human Nature. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Forsyth, D.R. (2009). Performance. In Group Dynamics. (5th ed, pp:281-312). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Van Lange, P.A.M, De Cremer, D, Van Dijk, E and Van Vugt, M. (2007). Self Interest and Beyond: Basic Principles of social Interaction. In Kruglanski, A.W and Higgins, E.T (Eds.) Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles. (2nd ed. pp:540-564). New York: The Guilford Press. Read More