Running head: Social Influences on Behavior

Social Influences on Behavior
University of Phoenix PSY / 300
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Social Influences on Behavior
There are a number of characteristic changes that occur in the intellectual, moral and physical development of the adolescent. During this time, the individual moves from a structured, relatively undemanding environment into the more complex and blurred world of adult society. This transition is accomplished by most individuals with some difficulty, but ultimately with success. However, some individuals have great difficulty in making the required adaptations to move from childhood through their adolescence and into adulthood. Social researchers have been focusing on identifying those factors that put youth at risk for development issues. Adolescence is, by its very nature, a high risk time for all young people. This is because it is a time of such great change. This period is relatively chaotic for young people putting them at greater risk for the development of problem behaviors and habits. (TAP, 2007).
Different types of social environments encourage the development of different behaviors. There are five levels of the model addressing the systems of adolescence. Each of the systems is dissimilar from the others. These systems involve all manner of social influences. Family, school, peers, neighbors, friends, religious influences, media and cultural norms all help to define the individual’s acceptable behaviors. This is a time of risk for substance abuse and other behaviors that challenge health and social norms. The susceptibility to these risks differs greatly across the population.
Factors that seem to increase the individual’s risk level for problem behaviors and those that seem to foster healthy habits and behaviors work in concert with the individual’s personality to help form their future risk profile. Risk factors work to increase the capacity for dangerous behaviors, while protective factors tend to decrease these behaviors. (TAP, 2007)
The ecological model defines a number of risk and protective factors at all system levels. Biological, psychosocial and cognitive changes are among these factors. The individual adolescent’s social relationships and the changes that are occurring in their family and friends can contribute to the development of problem behaviors or help the individual to remain resilient during this time of change. At different system levels, each of the individual’s transitions in their work, social and school relationships contribute to their behaviors and decision making processes. By understanding the types of transitions that they go through, risk factors can be minimized and protective factors maximized in ways that can support healthy development. (Pike, 2007).
The personal fable is one behavior exhibited by adolescents. They create this fable around the false impression that their own experiences are unique to them. They often believe that these apparently unique factors will allow them to excel and gain great honor, favor and glory. (Berger,1998). Another behavior exhibited during adolescence is the ‘imaginary audience’ in which the egocentrism of adolescence can be clearly seen. This is a finely tuned self-consciousness that emerges in early adolescence. They are again mistakenly taken with the impression that other individuals are observing their appearance and behavior obsessively. They greatly overestimate the number of individuals involved in these obsessive observation behaviors and allow this imaginary audience to dictate their behaviors since they see the audience as directing them to social rejection or social acceptance. This pattern of thought puts the individual at greater risk due to perceived external pressures. (Pike, 2007).
While these behaviors represent a risk, they do not necessarily indicate that therapeutic intervention is required. These are some of the normal cognitive changes that can be observed during adolescence. As they being to mature further, the individual’s thought processes will become more refined. They will continue to pass through periods of increased self-analysis and reflection. They will experience periods of extraordinary self-absorption that are termed adolescent egocentrism.(Elkind, 1978).These periods are characterized by the individual focusing on themselves to the exclusion of all others. (Berger, 1998).
All children are more focused toward their parents than their peers during early childhood. During adolescence a shift occurs in which they become more focused on their peers. They have yet to make a net gain in self-sufficiency as they are still externally focused. Peer pressure is generally considered a negative influence, but it may also be a means of remaining resilient in the face of negative risk factors. Cigarette smoking is an example of such pressure that is negative. However, their peers can also influence them to reach for high academic ranking, which would be a generally positive pressure. (Berger, 1998). The individual’s sense of self sufficiency will increase in greater proportion during later adolescence and early adulthood.
The individual will go through periods of self-questioning in which they re-evaluate their moral values. They will examine the source of these values in their families, friends and communities and will finally arrive at their own personal set of values that they will follow in making their decisions and affecting their behaviors. Teens will test out many behaviors during this evaluation which may be physically dangerous and/or socially disturbing. If the experimentation does not escalate, it is considered a normal part of their self-discovery. (Baumrind,1987). Teens progress in the healthiest manner if they are comfortable and feel accepted in the families. They also do well with structures that give good limits and still allow free expression and tolerate others opinions. (Silverberg & Gondoli, 1996).
Most teens make the transition through their adolescent period successfully. They manage to achieve a high level of self-esteem and recover with good relationships with their families. They are more able to make their own logical, intelligent and responsible decisions and have good, intimate peer relationships. There are, of course, some teens that do not make this transition smoothly. They can become psychologically unbalanced and may exhibit disturbing behavioral problems. (Steinberg, 1989).
Individuals who enter their early adulthood with high self-esteem and a good sense of confidence and with strong social skills have the highest chances of remaining stable for the rest of their lives. Those individuals who have few protective factors remain at higher risk for the development of problem behaviors. This is why it is imperative that we note those risk and protective factors that individuals need to acquire during this stage of their lives.

References
Back, K. (1951). Influence Through Social Communication. Journal of Abnormal and
Social Psychology. Vol. 46 pp.9 - 23.
Balkwell, J. (1991). From Expectations to Behavior: An Improved Postulate for
Expectation States Theory. American Sociological Review. Vol. 56 pp.355 - 369.
Berger, J. (1977). Status Characteristics and Social Interaction: An Expectation States
Approach. Elsevier, New York, New York.
Elkind, D. (1978). The Child and Society: Essays in Applied Child Development. Oxford
University Press.
Homans, G.C. (1958). Social Behavior as Exchange. American Journal of Sociology.
Vol. 62 pp.597
TAP (2007) Tapping Into Teen Concerns, Perceptions, and Behaviors. A Report of the
2007 Teen Assessment Project (TAP) Retrieved January 4, 2012 from http://www.newfound.k12.nh.us/index.php/distinfo/distdoc/doc_view/537-newfound-tap-results-2007?tmpl=component&format=raw
Pike, J. (2007) 4-H Youth Development. University of New Hampshire Cooperative
Extension. Retrieved January 1, 2012 from http://extension.unh.edu/4H/4H.htm