Social Influences on Behavior

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Social Influences on Behavior PSY 300 Social Influences on Behavior People make hundreds of decisions a day. From what they eat to what they wear to how they talk to how they act or react and much more. The question is not whether or not people make decisions but rather how do they make these decisions? What influences them to wear a suit rather than sweatpants and a sweatshirt to work? Why do they stand by in a group and watch an individual be beaten rather than step up to help? These are the questions that have been researched by social psychologists and we will discuss some of the answers to these questions. We will begin by examining what some of the foundational concepts behind the way people interact are from a social psychology point of view. Communication is a key concept behind how people interact with each other. There are two major forms of communication, verbal and nonverbal. An individual can use nonverbal communication in the form of body language, facial expressions, attitude and appearance to name a few. An individual can use verbal communication as well by a change in tone, their choice in words and how loud or how soft they choose to speak. A few other key concepts behind the way individuals interact with each other would be through persuasion, aggression, attitude, social norms and social influences. Some individual influences can be personality traits, psychological disorders, genetics and personal values. The concept of persuasion is when an individual or individuals attempt to change the way other people think or feel about something. (Kowalski & Westen, 2011) The concept of aggression can come in at least two forms, hostile aggression and instrumental aggression. Hostile aggression is violent or heated aggression that involves lashing out and anger. Instrumental aggression is much calmer and is usually used in punishing crimes

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