Social Influence and Psychology
What is Social Influence? The topic falls under Psychology (the study of Mind and Behaviour). There are quite a number of psychological approaches to provide us with knowledge and understanding about human behaviour. Example of approaches: Social Learning, Behaviourism, Cognitive, Humanism, Psychoanalysis, Biological. There are different branches of psychology, the study of Social Influence falls under the branch of Social Psychology.
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Question: What is Social Influence?
Answer: Social Influence provides an explanation of how the presence of others (group pressure) can influence an individual’s attitudes and beliefs. Social Influence can impact on the way someone will think, feel and behave.
EXAMPLE of SOCIAL INFLUENCE:
“Brenda is first in the queue for lunch and she decides to have a salad. Brenda’s friends join the queue and chose sandwiches for lunch. After seeing this Brenda decides to have a sandwich instead of a salad”. Now, the question is why did Brenda have a change of mind and decided not to have a salad after noticing that all her friends had chosen sandwiches. Social Influence would suggest that Brenda is unsure about her own judgement about what to eat at lunchtime and so she accepts the action of her friends.
How the presence of others can have an impact on our choice of food might seem to be a trivial example, but if we can be so easily influenced in regard to our taste and preference, being influenced might become the norm and impact on more serious issues.
You could reflect and consider whether or not you are easily influenced. Do social media influencers impact your life, do work colleagues influence your way of life? Do you easily conform?
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