Social Exchange theory was created by George Homans in 1958. Since its publication as “Social Behavior as Exchange”, several other theorists like Peter Blau, Richard Emerson, John Thibaut, and Harold Kelley have contributed to the theory. Before diving into the biggest concepts of this theory, two main properties need to be discussed. This theory is all about social exchanges, which are essentially reactions and decisions in relationships. The two properties are self-interest and interdependence. They are the two fundamental interactions between two individuals who each have something of value to the other. When an individual is looking out for their own self-interest, they are looking out for their own economic and psychological needs which can result in things like greed and competition. However, self-interest is not seen as a negative thing; in fact, it can result in both parties achieving their own interests. Interdependence, on the other hand, is harder to study but it is the combination of the two using both their efforts to gain something. Interdependence has higher social implications. Homans, as the founder of the theory, had it say that the theory consists of a social exchange with rewards and costs between at least two people. Rewards are defined as objects that have a positive value and are sought out by individuals. Costs are defined as objects that have a negative value and are avoided by individuals. Rewards in regards to relationships are things like support, friendship, and acceptance, while costs are things like energy spent, time, and money. Essentially this theory states that every individual is trying to maximize their wins or their worth and end up with something that is more positive than negative. Worth equ...
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...omans, G. C. (1958). Social Behavior as Exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 63(6), 597-606.
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Carl Roger’s article “Empathetic: An Underappreciated Way of Being,” examines the rhetoric of emotions. On the surface level, rhetoric is simply persuasion, thus implying some degree of written or verbal communication. In reality, however, this is equally apparent in non-verbal situations because body language and tone creates an unspoken language that is potentially more powerful than the written and spoken word. Therefore, being empathetic towards others helps understand the underlying meaning behind their words. By “locat[ing] power in the person, not the expert,” the listener is able to understand others’ as they see themselves (Rogers 104). Furthermore, Rogers notes that frequently, the most powerful dialogue is within the unspoken word. He encourages others to listen for feelings rather than just for
The first section explores the “flat-brain theory of emotions, flat-brain syndrome, and flat-brain tango” (Petersen, 2007, pp. 2-45). All three are interrelated (Petersen, 2007). The flat-brain theory of emotions “demonstrates what’s occurring inside of us when things are going well, and how that changes when they are not” (Petersen, 2007, p. 11). Petersen’s (2007) theory “explains how our emotions, thinking, and relating abilities work and how what goes on inside us comes out in the ways we communicate and act” (p. 8). The “flat-brain syndrome” describes what happens when an individual wears their emotions on their sleeve. This “makes it
The situation in which I will be referring to throughout this essay is a family dinner celebrating my brother’s engagement to his fiancé whom my mother approves of but my father does not. The works of Arlie Hochschild on emotional work will be used to analyze the situational context. Arlie Hochschild is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley whose area of interest is in how individuals manage their emotions and perform emotional labor in places that require control over one’s character such as their workplace. Her work suggests the idea that emotion and feeling are social. In this Hochschild (1983) means that there are rules to how we feel in every situation such as birthday parties and trying to stay happy at them or funerals and being expected to express emotions of grief. An individual may engage in emotional work by changing their affective state to match the feeling rules of the situation, Hochschild (1983) refers to this as two concepts: surface acting and deep acting.
Harold Shipman is known as one of Britain’s worst serial killers. Over twenty-five years it is suspected he killed 251 individuals while working as a medical doctor (“Harold Shipman”, n.d., para 1). Shipman had been injecting fatal amounts of poison into their bodies (para. 1). Shipman’s actions and why he acted in this manner can be explained from the sociological perspective and psychological perspective. The sociological perspective examines factors including social setting, level of education and positive or negative role models in a person’s life (Pozzulo, Bennell & Forth, 2015, p.338-341). The psychological perspective examines colorations between an individual’s mental process, their behaviour, their learning process and traits an individual
4) How this relates to the real world: This relates to the real world because positive and negative behaviors are displayed by terms of words and actions everywhere around us on a daily basis. After reading this article, I believe the mood maintenance hypothesis has a tighter grip on positive people. Expressing positive behavioral actions and words can change someone’s day. However, I believe using empathy is one of the strongest and most influential strategies to extinguish negativity. Empathizing with another person means to express a genuine care and share that persons state of mind, thus having a strong impact on that particular individuals feelings.
underlying empathy” authors Jean Decety, Greg J. Norman, Gary G. Berntson, John T. Cacioppo explore this phenomenon.
From a social perspective, emotions address the goal of relational survival at the “individual, dyadic, group, and cultural level” (Keltner & Haidt, 1999, p. 505). Primarily, emotion serves a function for the interpersonal relationship; however, emotions may serve a social function on the individual level as well (Keltner & Haidt, 1999). Specifically, emotional experiences allow individuals to assign meaning to their social interactions (Keltner & Haidt, 1999). For example, feelings of love may indicate one’s personal degree of commitment towards another individual (Keltner & Haidt, 1999). In addition to affective appraisal, the cognitive and physiological processes that accompany emotion prepare individuals for necessary action (Keltner & Haidt, 1999). This process begins at the autonomic level and involves c...
Broaden-and-build theory is an alternative model, which was developed by Fredrickson, to catch positive emotion effects. The reason why it is called broaden-and-build is that positive emotions appear to broaden people’s momentary thought-action repertories and build their enduring personal resources. To support the idea, the general question of whether specific positive emotions differentially motivate particular behaviors was tested by CAVANAUGH, L. A., BETTMAN, J. R., and LUCE, M. F.. By testing the novel hypothesis that specific positive emotions may have different effects on prosocial behavior directed toward close versus distant others. The result finally shows that positive emotion will affect people’s behavior and
Social interactions are characterized by a fundamental process that allows to understand others ‘sensations by sharing emotions, feelings and beliefs. This ability is called empathy, a controversial and complex “umbrella term” that comprises several elements (Davis et al., 1996). Many researchers are investigating empathy trying to better define it and to decompose its subconstructs (that often overlap between them). A common shared definition suggest that empathy comprises cognitive components like perspective taking, mentalizing or self–other distinction and emotional components such as resonance with the emotions of others and the generation of an appropriate emotional response (Davis, 1996; Decety and Jackson, 2004). In other words, we
unravel the nature of these emotions so that those portraying the emotions can gain an
Social Psychology of Emotions can be defined as a form of mental states that has the potential to give rise to various behaviors in an individual. Research suggests that most of the emotions experienced by a person are inherently social, which implies that they cannot be encountered in the absence of other feelings (Baumeister & Finkel, 2010). Baumeister and Finkel, are of the opinion, that the social aspect of emotions is what forces people to interact more with others as they seek a means of illustrating what they may be feeling. Some of the notable emotions experienced by individuals include affection, jealousy, shame, and sympathy.
In everyday interactions people are always looking to have a positive experience among those with whom they interact. According to the Social Exchange theory, with each interaction an individual has with another, that individual attempts to maximize the positive outcomes and minimize the negative. The purpose of this paper is to apply the Social Exchange theory to an authentic real life situation to best illustrate the theory and the key concepts that it holds. In applying the social exchange theory from demonstration, to application, to then explanation, a better understanding in terms of the value of the theory will be shown, as well as the function that it has in everyday life.
Thomas Hobbes creates a clear idea of the social contract theory in which the social contract is a collective agreement where everyone in the state of nature comes together and sacrifices all their liberty in return to security. “In return, the State promises to exercise its absolute power to maintain a state of peace (by punishing deviants, etc.)” So are the power and the ability of the state making people obey to the laws or is there a wider context to this? I am going to look at the different factors to this argument including a wide range of critiques about Hobbes’ theory to see whether or not his theory is convincing reason for constantly obeying the law.
Have you ever wondered why people have certain reactions? I chose chapter eight on emotions for my reflection paper because emotions are something that everyone has and feels, yet cannot always explain or react to in the way you would expect. Personally, I have never been great at responding to emotions in a way that I would not regret in the future. Thus, naturally being drawn to this chapter as a way to expand my knowledge on how to react to things more positively. I also wanted to learn why I feel a certain way after events that would not affect most people and be reassured about my feelings. Opposite to that, it is nice to see that, while not always productive, others have the same reaction habits. Overall, emotions are a complicated
Emotional Intelligence is very vital to our social kills and how we react to certain situations. According to (Social Learning Theory: How Close Is Too Close, 2017), emotional intelligence includes elements of social intelligence, self-awareness, and self-regulation of emotions. Our emotional intelligence impacts how we interact with family, friends, and co-workers. People’s emotions are often triggered by situations that they have no control and they begin to feel stressed or hopeless. According to (Hurley, 2002) emotions are automatic responses that are prompted by what occurring in the environment that causes our bodies to react very quickly. In this essay, I will be discussing how we can be “in check” with our emotions, how to manage our