Drawing on Appropriate Evidence from Chapter 5, Describe How Groups Can Influence People in Positive and Negative Ways.
Drawing on appropriate evidence from Chapter 5, describe how groups can influence people in positive and negative ways.
Groups influence people in positive and negative ways. Looking at research and studies we will see how the roles we play in groups can influence our behaviour. We will see how groups we gravitate to help raise our self-esteem and give us a sense of belonging but at the same time how conflict is created with other groups. Groups we belong to help to give us a sense of identity but we will see how we can lose this as we conform to group behaviour and the impact this can have. Finally, we will look at Kondo’s research and how changing cultures slowly changed her identity and how this affected her on her journey emphasising her positive and negative influences.
As we grow we will have many social identities which influence the groups we belong to. These groups can range from friends to family and further out to groups like nationality and ethnicity. Within these groups we have different roles to play which influence our behaviour.
A controversial experiment by Zimbardo (1971) (Spoors et al.) shows how a groups of males were separated into two groups of guards and prisoners in a make shift prison. After six days of a two week experiment it was stopped. The guards became abusive while the prisoners showed signs of emotional disturbance.
Lots of factors could have influenced the participant’s behaviour but this experiment shows us the effect that roles have on us in a group and how quick we are to adapt to them. We see how an individual can turn abusive and also how individuals can be walked over an abused.
Regarding Zimbardo’s experiment we can identify two groups. Psychologists call these our ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups. Evidence suggests our ‘in group’ raises our self-esteem, we gain a sense of belonging, identification and a sense of status. Our ‘in group’ also gives us an opportunity to compare with our ‘out group’ this can create conflict
Groups influence people in positive and negative ways. Looking at research and studies we will see how the roles we play in groups can influence our behaviour. We will see how groups we gravitate to help raise our self-esteem and give us a sense of belonging but at the same time how conflict is created with other groups. Groups we belong to help to give us a sense of identity but we will see how we can lose this as we conform to group behaviour and the impact this can have. Finally, we will look at Kondo’s research and how changing cultures slowly changed her identity and how this affected her on her journey emphasising her positive and negative influences.
As we grow we will have many social identities which influence the groups we belong to. These groups can range from friends to family and further out to groups like nationality and ethnicity. Within these groups we have different roles to play which influence our behaviour.
A controversial experiment by Zimbardo (1971) (Spoors et al.) shows how a groups of males were separated into two groups of guards and prisoners in a make shift prison. After six days of a two week experiment it was stopped. The guards became abusive while the prisoners showed signs of emotional disturbance.
Lots of factors could have influenced the participant’s behaviour but this experiment shows us the effect that roles have on us in a group and how quick we are to adapt to them. We see how an individual can turn abusive and also how individuals can be walked over an abused.
Regarding Zimbardo’s experiment we can identify two groups. Psychologists call these our ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups. Evidence suggests our ‘in group’ raises our self-esteem, we gain a sense of belonging, identification and a sense of status. Our ‘in group’ also gives us an opportunity to compare with our ‘out group’ this can create conflict
References: Spoors, P., Dyer, E.W., Finlay, L. and Marsh, G (2011) Starting with Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University,