...Group Influence Shaheene Yassi Social Psychology PSY/400 August 22, 2013 Professor: Julee Poole Group Influence A person can easily be influenced into doing an action. This action can either be seen as a good or bad action as well as how it makes the person feel afterwards. Many individuals who live around here feel a need to have someone to talk to as well as keep him or her out of trouble, and to give advice. A building called Comp care, is a building of unique and specialized individuals who take time out, just to sit down and talk to some of the people around here, either just because or they just need to get something off his or her chest. When a person first goes into the building, what is first noticed is a friendly environment, music playing in the background, watching television, socializing, or even reading a good magazine, as a person waits to speak to a counselor. A couple of older women are sitting behind the desk, doing paperwork, taking calls, letting the counselor know that someone is there to see him or her, signing the person in, etc. As a person is escorted to the office for the visit, several other offices of other counselors or doctors happen to be on the premises. The ages of the group varies in age, race, culture, skin color, gender, credentials, and expertize. The main purpose of the group is to be a shoulder to cry on, give advice, help a person with anger management, family issues, and so forth. The main goal is to try to get...
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...occurs every Thursday at a specific time, like clockwork. Within this group meeting, several entities from the branch come together to discuss a multitude of topics; ranging from the past weeks performances, issues that have come up, how the issue was resolved, and future business. Generally, there are eight people involved with this process; evenly divided among gender. However, there is a variance of age groups as well as ethnicity. The general purposes of the meetings reflect the company’s core values with regards to the relationship with the group’s purpose, mission, and overall goal. It is through my observation, which I gained great insight with regards to the flow of the meeting and the overall behavioral influence that individual attitudes have upon the impact of the group's effectiveness. The purpose of the weekly meetings is to raise awareness with regards to how the group is doing individually and as a team through constructive criticism. It is through these meeting that the group is enabled to discuss a variety of issues that may arise throughout the week while providing feedback with regards to lessons learned and how they can provide better customer service while employing the company’s core values. The mission of the group meetings enables the team to engage and discuss an array of items that include ways to enhance our job performance while focusing on the self “individual” and the group as a team. In addition, each employee is encouraged to voice their...
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...Influence of Reference Groups Lauren A. Grimsley Consumer Behavior January 23, 2011 Dr. Kelly Bruning Strayer University Abstract This paper talks about the influence of reference groups on consumer behavior. It identifies the different type of reference groups and takes a look at different websites that attract reference groups in order to gain identity and make sales. Introduction A reference group is a group whose presumed perspectives or values are being used by an individual as the basis for his or her current behavior (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010). In other words, a reference group is a group where a person will use the beliefs or opinions of the group to guide their own beliefs and opinions. There are three different forms of reference groups; the aspirational group, the associative group and the dissociative group. Aspiration Reference Groups The aspirational group is a group where people like to compare themselves to people in that group. An example of that is a company or brand will use a high favored celebrity or athlete as a representative for their product to gain patronage and attract consumers. One website that does this is www.weightwatchers.com. As well as on the commercial, on the first page of the website is a picture of Jennifer Hudson, who currently is the spokesperson for Weight Watchers. Most people who are fans of Jennifer...
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...Group Influence On Consumer Behaviour * INTRODUCTION Each consumer is a member of a culture, various subcultures, and a social class; most of us belong to a number of different groups and almost would like to belong to several others. A group is defined as two or more individuals who share a set of norms, values, or beliefs and interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals. A group becomes a reference group when an individual identifies with it so much that he or she takes on many of the value, attitudes or personal standards of group members. The degree of reference group influence varies across product and brands with factors such as (1) the visibility to the group, (2) the necessity/non-necessity nature of the product, (3) the level of commitment the individual feels to a group, (4) the relevance of the behavior to the group, and (5) degree of individual’s confidence in his own judgment in the purchase situation. * DESCRIPTION The majority of people belong to more different groups at the same time and frequently they want to be included in other groups as well, but in a specific situation they report themselves to a single group. When a new situation appears or the conditions change, the individuals may report themselves to the rules of another group which becomes the reference group for the given situation. Most people prefer to adapt, more or less, to the group's rules, from politeness or the desire to not be left aside. The norms are the general...
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...INTRODUCTION Each consumer is a member of a culture, various subcultures, and a social class; most of us belong to a number of different groups and almost would like to belong to several others. A group is defined as two or more individuals who share a set of norms, values, or beliefs and interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals. A group becomes a reference group when an individual identifies with it so much that he or she takes on many of the value, attitudes or personal standards of group members. The degree of reference group influence varies across product and brands with factors such as (1) the visibility to the group, (2) the necessity/non-necessity nature of the product, (3) the level of commitment the individual feels to a group, (4) the relevance of the behavior to the group, and (5) degree of individual’s confidence in his own judgment in the purchase situation. DESCRIPTION The majority of people belong to more different groups at the same time and frequently they want to be included in other groups as well, but in a specific situation they report themselves to a single group. When a new situation appears or the conditions change, the individuals may report themselves to the rules of another group which becomes the reference group for the given situation. Most people prefer to adapt, more or less, to the group's rules, from politeness or the desire to not be left aside. The norms are the general, common expectations of behavior that are considered appropriate...
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...‘The first group we belong to, the family, has more influence than any other group on forming our identity’ Family, the first group we belong to, carries a monumental impact in influencing ones' identity. However, through different circumstances, it is possible to have more than one 'family', thus having another group possessing more influence over the 'first family'. Having a 'family' is not determined by having a biological connection, rather it is the people with whom we associate. We are moulded by our environment and what we experience whilst growing up. The foundation of values and beliefs we acquire throughout our lives originates from our first home. Even so, if one chooses to leave their family early or if their family can no longer be with them, our identity is then influenced by the people we choose to surround ourselves with. Experiencing the world through your own eyes naturally shapes you to become a person adaptable to it. The In the novel, The Dressmaker, by Rosalie Ham, the protagonist, Tilly Dunnage is an illegitimate child victimised by many because of her background. As a young girl, Tilly, originally known as Myrtle, suffered torment, harassment both physically and mentally due to the 'brand' she is given from birth. Being born out of wedlock, her mother, 'Mad Molly', is known as a 'whore' and thus both are outcasted from the 1950s rural township of Dungatar. Tilly's identity is unjustly established by this first group she belongs to, the family...
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...Group Influence PSY400 December 16th, 2014 Group Influence Group influence is the term used for when a person’s emotions and opinions and behaviors are influenced by others. Group influence occurs when one's emotions, opinions, or behaviors are our influence by a group of others. There are three noted forms of group in full compliance, identification, and internalization. Compliance is the form of group influence when an individual or individuals on the surface seem to agree with others when in actuality they are keeping their differences to themselves. Identification is when an individual is influenced by someone that they like and respect. An example of this is when the celebrity will endorse a product on a TV commercial. Internalization is when an individual agrees with an issue both on the surface and internally. Groupthink on the other hand is a psychological experience that transpires when, in spite of the fact a group desires harmony or conventionality, irrational or dysfunctional decision-making occurs to eliminate conflict. This happens because group members failed to evaluate the alternatives properly, eliminate or suppress other viewpoints by isolating the discussion and the facts of the topic. The reader should comprehend these separate entities upon the completion of reading this essay describing a meeting of the members of the American Legion Post (Latané, 1981). The Meeting ...
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...Group Influence Some groups are formal with designated titles and rules. Other groups are informal, organized casually and have unwritten or flexible rules. For purposes of this paper, I chose to observe a district meeting of the Med Pay Unit within my company. I have highlighted my observations and thoughts below: Part I The meeting was held in a conference room large enough to hold 30 people, however there were only 12 members on the team. The seating arrangement was U-shaped with chairs around the outside. The manager sat in the center. The composition of the group was comprised of seven women and five men whose ages ranged from 22-mid 50’s. The racial makeup included African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics and a Bi-racial member. The meeting was scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and when I arrived five minutes early, I found that everyone had already arrived. The meeting started on time. The unit is a department of Nationwide Insurance and their focus is processing medical payments for members who have suffered injuries in accidents. The number one focus for the unit is providing excellent customer service while exemplifying the core values of the company. The Med Pay unit is long-term and in fact, will be expanding to add two more teams which will include a bi-lingual unit. The manager passed out an agenda at the beginning of the meeting and was successful in keeping to it. She was the primary facilitator of the group, but introduced a guest speaker from...
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...Questioning Authority: A Rethinking of the Infamous Milgram Experiments By Liliana Segura, AlterNet Posted on February 12, 2009 Between 1963 and 1974, Dr. Stanley Milgram conducted a series of experiments that would become one of the most famous social psychology studies of the 20th century. His focus was how average people respond to authority, and what he revealed stunned and disturbed people the world over. Under the pretense of an experiment on "learning" and "memory," Milgram placed test subjects in a lab rigged with fake gadgetry, where a man in a lab coat instructed them to administer electrical shocks to a fellow test subject (actually an actor) seated in another room in "a kind of miniature electric chair." Participants were told they were the "teachers" in the scenario and given a list of questions with which to quiz their counterparts (the "learners"). If the respondent answered incorrectly to a question, he got an electric shock as punishment. The shocks were light at first -- 15 volts -- and became stronger incrementally, until they reached 450 volts -a level labeled "Danger: Severe Shock." The actors were never actually electrocuted, but they pretended they were. They groaned, shouted, and, as the current became stronger, begged for relief. Meanwhile, the man in the lab coat coolly told the test subjects to keep going. To people's horror, Milgram discovered that a solid majority of his subjects -- roughly two-thirds -- were willing to administer the highest levels...
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...Firstly, the search for the meaning of life often influence the elderlies to engage more in religious practices. As people grow older, they started to be less energetic in daily activities, and start to search for activities that can fill up their free time and do not require much energy. Also, generally, as people get older they became more mature and are able to understand the intricacies and reasoning behind every teachings in a religion. Due to this, older people are most likely to engage in religious practices. We shall look at General Social Survey (GSS), a survey collected every two or three years from 1972 to 2008. One of the questions asked was if respondents identified with a formal religion, and if so, which one. About 76% of the respondents in their twenties professed Christianity, and this increased steadily until almost 90% of those in their seventies and eighties professed Christianity. This illustrates an age effect – adherence to Christianity increases with age. This show how an age group, in this argument being the elders, are most likely to engage in religious practices. Next, ethnic minorities are more likely to participate in religious practices, mainly because religion is one of the key ways that an ethnic group can understand who he is, among other reasons. Most surveys of religious self-identification show members of ethnic minority groups are more likely to relate to a religion than those of the ethnic majority. This is because religion is one of the...
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...STRAYER UNIVERSITY Running Head: Consumer Behavior WEEK 3: ASSESSMENT # 1 Influence of Reference Groups SUBMITTED TO Kelly Bruning BY AMBER MARSHALL MKT 510 Consumer Behavior January 21, 2011 Abstract In each society there is a breakdown of different groups or what today’s youth would call “clicks” each group can be broken down by culture, race, age or geographic location but if you dig deeper you will see that even those groups can be broken down even more. Let’s explore of reference groups and how each reference groups has a major impact on each other, how society views each groups and how the internet may attract certain groups. Different websites attract reference groups depending on what is being offered on that site, throughout the duration of this paper I will breakdown two different websites both different but both geared toward the same type of reference group. Online Community Online community is a community that is able to interact with each other over a vast period of time about a specific topic (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010 pg 231).Message boards, blogs and discussion groups make the internet a more interesting place for those of us that like to stay in the know of it all. The online Social Network sites make it even easier for people today to stay in touch, reconnect or just know what our favorite celebrities are up to these days. Social networking sites range from many different things like friendship ( facebook and myspace)...
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...When you think about reference groups, there are a number of perspectives that one has to consider. According to Hawkins (2010), a reference group is a group whose presumed perspectives or values are being used by an individual as the basis for his or her current behavior. Thus, a reference group is simply a group that an individual uses as a guide for behavior in a specific situation (p.227). Groups may be classified according to a number of variables. Four criteria are particularly useful: membership, strength of social tie, type of contact, and attraction. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide assistance and support through established programs in local communities throughout the world. A sisterhood of more than 200,000 predominately Black college educated women, the Sorority currently has over 900 chapters located in the United States, England, Japan (Tokyo and Okinawa), Germany, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Republic of Korea. The Sorority was founded in 1913 by 22 students at Howard University. These young women wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence; to provide scholarships; to provide support to the underserved; educate and stimulate participation in the establishment of positive public policy; and to highlight issues and provide solutions for problems in their communities (Delta Sigma Theta, 2010). Delta Sigma Theta’s website is about heritage. This site...
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...------------------------------------------------- Influencing Group Communication Management March 9th, 2014 Abstract This Paper will describe the five bases of power and will identify which power bases are formal and which is personal to help explain how power bases affect communication in an organization. Working in any organization, a person may experience at some time or another, either one or all of the five bases of power, which fall under the heading of Formal Power and/or Personal Power. Formal Power is comprised of three main bases; Coercive Power, Reward Power and Legitimate Power and is based on the individual’s position and the level of authority related to that position (Robbins & Judge, 2009, p.452). An example would be the General Manager of a company having the full authority to make important operational decisions. Personal Power, on the other hand, consists of two main bases of power; Expert Power; base on an individual’s skill and expertise and Referent Power which is influenced based on possession by an individual of desirable resources or personal traits. (Robbins & Judge, 2009, p.453). For a better understand how the five bases of power affect communication in the workplace, this paper will define each base separately. Coercive Power is a formal base of power, which relies mainly on fear. Managers and/or supervisors can use this type of power in the workplace, by threatening poor performance reviews, demotion, and reduction...
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...Influencing Group Communication Erika Schmidt BCOM/230 January 28, 2013 Dr Ed Influencing Group Communication The five bases of power are coercive power, reward power, legitimate power, expert power, and referent power (Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge, 2009). The three types of formal power are coercive, reward, and legitimate. Coercive power, this source of power is also problematic and can be subject to abuse, cause unhealthy behavior, and dissatisfaction in the workplace. Reward power this source of power often give rewards for doing what they want with a highly probability they will do it. Legitimate power this source of power that provides social hierarchies, cultural norms, and organizational structure like the CEO, a minister, a president, people holding official positions. The two types of Personal power are expert power, and referent power. Expert power happened when demonstrate expertise and people tend to trust and respect what is say. Referent power this source of power is referent to a charisma, charm, admiration, or appeal, and one person respect another, and strongly identifying with that person in some way. (French and Raven's Five Forms of Power, copy) These bases of power affect communication at ADT in different ways. My department FSC (field support services) holds 15 teams and each team has between 14 to 16 team members, some of the supervisors use different bases of power to accomplish the work. The most effective power is the reward power...
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...“PEER INFLUENCE: THE EFFECT OF PEER GROUP TOWARDS THE DECISION-MAKING OF 2ND YEAR AB POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT” SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Course: Bachelor of Science in Psychology- II Names: Balmes, Sharmaine D. Dagohoy , Jasmine D. Jalocon, Clarice P. Abstract: Introduction Group influence occurs when one's emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others. Group influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, and persuasion. The actions, reactions, and thoughts of an individual are influenced by other people or groups. A useful framework of analysis of group influence on the individual is the so called reference group—the term comes about because an individual uses a relevant group as a standard of reference against which oneself is compared. Reference groups come in several different forms. Peer group is defined as a small group of similarly aged, fairly close friends and sharing the same activities. In general, peer groups or cliques have two to twelve members, with an average of five or six. Peer groups provide a sense of security and they help adolescents to build a sense of identity. (http://inside.bard.edu/academic/specialproj/darling/adolesce.htm, 2004) In actuality, peer influence is more complex than our stereotype of the negative influences from friends. First, peer influence can be both positive and negative. While we tend to think that peer influence leads teens to engage in unhealthy and...
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