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Social Influences on Behavior
PSY/300 - Psychology
June 20, 2011
Pamela Parks

Social Influences on Behavior
Social influences change ones’ behavior as soon as we become cognoscente of the facts that if we behave a certain way or speak well enough, we are more likely to receive the kind of attention we want. The same is true for the opposite. If we behave incorrectly or are not well spoken, we receive negative attention or demeaning attention. We care about what people think of us and our behavior changes depending on who we are with and the kind of impression we want to give. For example, I behave differently when I am with colleagues then I do when I am with friends or family. I also change my behavior accordingly if I am with colleagues who happen to also be friends. I know that I must still be professional and maintain a level of decorum that suits them and I do not allow myself to waiver from that for fear of losing that professional level of respect that I have earned.
I think that one of the most obvious social influences on behavior comes in to play in a group setting which can be attributed to social loafing. Take for example our learning teams. They are created to allow for a flow of more creative thinking. More input and opinions create a better paper or at least that is what I think it is about. What happens however in some cases can be quite different. Let’s look at my learning team for this class. Although not the norm for a learning team, the dynamic is quite interesting to say the least. We have four woman with four very different personalities all working towards a common goal and that is to complete a paper and receive a high grade, however it has become evident to me that there are a couple of women in the group whose preference is to sit back and wait for the other two to complete the work and their small contribution is

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