Social Psychology of Sarah

Natasha Milton

PSY 201

01/26/2014
Jean Pedersen

Abstract

Sarah is a typical teenage girl. She gets good grades, uphold the rules of her parents until she meets a group of popular girls. Sarah was faced with a decision to either go home and respect the rules of her parents, or please her new found friends and go to a party. Sarah chose to be with her friends. Was it a good idea? Will she regret going?

This story of Sarah happens day to day. On this particular day Sarah's role quickly changed from responsible daughter to an irresponsible friend. The factors that contributed to Sarah's attitude toward her curfew was cognitive dissonance, and persuasion. Sarah was faced with a tough decision, should she go to the party or follow her parents rules and uphold her curfew? This is where cognitive dissonance plays a part. Cognitive dissonance is when a person feels discomfort when faced with two competing ideas at the same time. Sarah chose to be with her friends instead of obeying the rules. This demonstrates the power of persuasion. Sarah knew she should be at home, but she was intrigued of that fact that her new friends were popular and she was having fun. In this instance Sarah conformed herself in order to please her peers which is called Normative Social Influence. Sarah was so excited to have new and popular friends, that she put the rules to the side in order to have popular girls as friends.

Five different factors played the part between Sarah and Jack. The five factors are Competence, Proximity, Physical Attractiveness, Similarity, and Reciprocity. Competence was displayed when Sarah and Jack were sitting and talking to one another and truly enjoyed the conversation. Proximity happened when they both showed up to the party. Physical Attractiveness played a huge part when Jack to Sarah she was beautiful and wanted to go out on a date with her. Similarity was displayed when they found out the like the same music, attend the school, and lived in the same neighborhood. Lastly, Reciprocity happened when Sarah reacted positively to Jack's comment of her being beautiful and asking her on a date.

The type of social interaction that was displayed throughout the fight between the two boys was aggression, and hostile aggression. The fight started with aggression. Aggression is the exchange of words or physical acts that a person does in order to cause harm. The two boys were exchanging words with one another which progressed into a yelling match. With the boy's adrenaline running it was easy for it to turn into hostile aggression. Hostile aggression is a type of aggression used to inflict harm, and that is what happened when the boys started to fight one another. Because of the fight Sarah and her friends displayed the Bystander effect by simply leaving the party. Bystander effect is a phenomenon in which people in groups are less likely to offer assistance than they would be by themselves.

All in all I feel as though Sarah did not regret her decision. She got her “new” friends that she wanted and on top of that they were popular. She met a boy with similar interests and background and they truly are attracted to one another. I also feel as if Sarah hopes one day she to will become as popular as her friends which demonstrates group polarization. Group polarization is when the attitudes of members of a team will become more similar over time. For Sarah this was all worth it!

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