Social psychology is defined as the study of the relationships between people, their community and their environment (King, 2011). People tend to conform to society to feel accepted. However, their circumstances play a role in their capability to conform. For example, people are inclined to wear specific attire to the gym. The typical workout outfit is gym shorts, a t-shirt, and running sneakers, and typically, females put their hair up in a ponytail holder. Wearing anything other than these articles of clothing is abnormal and breaks the social norm. METHOD Participants The experiment to test the social norm of what clothes to wear in the gym consisted of five participants. The three confederates, Julie Curtis, Melissa Medici, and Payge Yerkes, were in the control group and wore gym shorts, t-shirts, and sneakers. The job of the control group was to watch the other gym patrons’ reactions to the experimenter’s attire. The experimental group consisted of Julie Crance, who wore a black top, black pants and brown heels; and Danielle Bonser, who wore a black dress and black wedges. Both experimenters wore their hair down, curled and wore a lot of makeup. Crance rode the bike, while Bonser worked on the elliptical for the duration of this experiment, which took place in the Kaplan gym at Mount Saint Mary College. We conducted this experiment two times: once at night and the other in the late afternoon. The first group, during the night, consisted of Crance, Curtis, and Medici. The confederates entered the gym five minutes before the experimenter and observed and recorded the reactions of the other patrons. We observed that many people discretely watched the experimenter. When she first walked in, the bystanders at the front ... ... middle of paper ... ... day. The hardest part of the experiment was going against social psychology; it was very uncomfortable going against the social norms. We also found that it was difficult to match all of our schedules to be able to do the experiment all together when the gym was full. Overall the experiment taught us that social norms have molded society to believe that they should restrain their original thoughts and actions when in a public place. Lastly, individuals should not disturb other social norms that occur within the range of accepted actions, especially in the area of clothing. Works Cited Chu, H., Bushman, B., & Woodard, R. (2008). Social physique anxiety, obligation to exercise, and exercise choices among college students. Journal of American College Health, 57, 1-13. King, L. (2011). The Science of Psychology. (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill (Print)
In 1961, Stanley Milgram, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale University wanted to study and observe how people would react to authority if asked to continue on a task even if it meant hurting another human being. The experiment first began at night in a small shadowy room. For the experiment, it required three people, there was first the volunteer which was a random person from the street who was considered the teacher in the experiment. Then their was the two actors who Milgram had payed them to be in the experiment, one of the two actors was the leaner who was strapped to the electric
She averted her eyes when fellow exercisers walked by, around or near her as she made her way to the weight area. Her attire was very well coordinated composed of a bright pink shirt and matching shoes contrasting with her black spandexs. As she reached the dumbbells section she seemed to want to see herself, but not be seen; an impossibility with the brightness of her apparel and the open space in which every wall is mirrored. Knowledgeable of what her weight lifting regimen entailed she went about her routine for about thirty minutes resting in intervals of about one to two minutes, casually looking at her phone. She hardly looked beyond her reflection in the mirror. Soon after she re-racked her weights and made her way to the cardio section and climbed up the Stairmaster she rapidly climbed for what seemed to be fifteen minutes, soon after I lost sight of her.
For this study, the experimenters used 70 college students. Within those 70 students, 38 of the participants were male and 32 of the participants were females. When the experiment began, each participant sat across from a confederate and began to take a pretest. After the pretest was completed the participants were then given a test, which consisted of 7 questions that could be solved and 5 qu...
Through various studies, Assistant Psychology Professor at Amherst College, Jessica Salvatore, and Professor of Women’s Psychology at Swarthmore College, Jeanne Marecek explore the reasons behind gender barriers in the gym, in an article entitled “Gender in the Gym: Evaluation Concerns as Barriers to Women’s Weight Lifting.” Although strength training proves to enhance mood, strengthen the immune system, and prevent osteoporosis, they’ve observed a lack of women in the weight room. Salvatore and Marecek believe women avoid this benefit due to evaluation concerns, which they define as “people’s interest in what others think of them” (Salvatore, Marecek 557). In the past, psychologists have studied similar topics concerning the pressure women receive to conform-- claiming women receive more pressure than men. Alternately, Salvatore and Marecek recognize, analyze, and briefly pose solutions for both men and women who face evaluation concerns in the gym attributable to certain experiences.
In this day and age we like to say that we thrive on being ourselves and embracing our individuality, while this may be true in my social experiment I found that more often than not we tend to keep to ourselves and follow the social norms of day to day life. Social norms are behaviors and cues most everyone learns throughout their lives. These norms teach us what is and is not acceptable. To fully understand and analyze how norms serve to regulate behavior in our social world, I decided to breach a social norm of my own.
During this experiment I choose to use the elevator with doors in the front and back. The elevator back doors are for storage and janitors. Which really left my peers with so many assumptions and questions on why I am facing the opposite way. I stood at the front desk with a friend of mine to arrange the perfect opportunities to get reactions. Whenever I spotted 5 or more individuals enter the two sided elevator I got on with them. Whenever we entered, I kept walking straight towards the back door as if I was going threw. The further I walked the more their heads would turn to see where I was going. People then noticed the breaking of the social norms. The groups that were involved equally reacted different towards the experiment. Of course, I got use to the stares and disturbing looks. They all stayed away from me looking very uncomfortable. There was a couple of people that asked me if I was okay or need help. Which shocked me the most because I really did not expect any one to
This is an example of informational influence. Since this is a lab experiment as well as Asch's experiment they have strengths and weakness. Both studies were very usefull in understanding conformity. Asch's experiment helped us to understand how normative influence cause conformity. Sherif's experiment helps us to understand how informational influence causes conformity and how social norms can develop and be internalized. Both studies can be applied to real life situations. They are useful in explaining classroom behaviour group desicion making and many social behaviours. But these studies ignore individual in conformity. People who have low self esteem, feelings of low status, high need for social support and high anxiety are more likely to
D., & Akert, R. M., 2013). Normative social influence typically occurs in public compliance with the group’s behavior and beliefs in which people would follow along with what others were doing. This concept can be linked to my experience of why I decided to enter the fitness world. This concept can be used to interpret and make sense of my experience and feelings because the fitness world was the new thing among people my age so, I went along with the group’s norm to avoid rejection and
Social psychology is a science that study social thinking (how we perceive ourselves and others, judgement we make and our attitudes); social influence (such as pressure to conform, group of people) and social relations such as aggression and helping (David G. Myers, 2008).
Instead of people expressing overt concern, i.e. asking what I was doing/if I was okay, all but 4 people expressed covert concern or no concern at all – that I could detect from a two story elevator ride. The covert concern I noticed was people would whisper, stay on the other side of the elevator, and get out of the elevator as soon as the doors where open. One shocking result was the lack of parents sequestering their children from me. All but two mothers put their children in between their selves and I. The two mothers did what I expected and put their selves in between children and I. I predicted that the parents of children would want to keep their children away from an individual that was not obeying societal norms especially in small, confined areas like the elevator. Another prediction I had that was proven wrong was only 3 people expressed overt concern. Three women –on separate elevator rides – asked if I was okay, to which I answered that I was conducting a social experiment to see what people’s reactions where to my ‘peculiar’ behavior. I predicted that most if not all people would ask if I was okay or something along that line to serve as a gauge to discover if I was any type of threat to them. My main prediction was people would refuse to ride the elevator, yet again I was proven wrong. All but one family rode the elevator with me. This shocked me because I believed that people would not want to be in a small confide area with a person they did not know, who was not doing what was
Social psychology is the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. What happens when there is only one way to do things without being teased, mimicked or ever bullied? We conform. Even though the standards are different now than is has been in the past, the theory is the same: for most people, whatever they think will make their life easiest, they will conform to.
Solomon E. Asch was a pioneer in research social psychology in the 1950’s. His experiments were on conformity, or how probable would it be that an individual would give into peer pressure. All individuals will experience some sort of peer influence in their life time, the effect could be good or bad. “At the same time, peer groups create strong expectations for appearance and behavior that can taint the positive rewards associated with peer interaction” (Chirban, Ph.D., Th.D, 2014).
Whether we know it or not, we all tend to succumb to the norm of others. We do something or act a certain way because we want to fit in with the others around us. Whether it be from bullying, persuasion, teasing, criticism, or social norm, conforming to the way of society is a part of life. Conformity is defined as a change in behavior or belief in order to accord with others. We all strive to be liked and to fit in, sometimes conforming to others around us is the only was we see fit to do so. Other factors that effect conformity are group size, unanimity, cohesion, public response, and prior commitment (Bikhchandani, Hirshleifer & Welch, 1998).
There are many ways in which society can influence our behavior. In many cases, expectations seem to dictate how we react to a given situation. Social norms have dictated our lives for thousands and thousands of years now. A social norm is an expected form of behavior in a given situation. It can also be described as the “proper” way to behave in the given circumstances. The textbook discusses norms as “a fundamental element of social structure: the cement of society” (P. 167). An example of a social norm is that students are expected to arrive to class and complete their assigned work on time. These social norms provide order in society but is arguable also harmful to society.
The social norm I decided to experiment on was maintaining personal space, and I violated this norm by invading strangers’ personal space. I chose to violate this norm because I thought it would be interesting to see different people’s reactions to the violation of a norm that is upheld highly within society. I violated maintaining personal space by sitting closely to strangers. I chose to sit by people who were sitting on benches, that way I could sit directly next to them instead of following to social norm of sitting on the other end of the bench. The reaction of the stranger depended on the individual. During the breaking of the social norm, most people would look at me strangely and then instantly walk away. Others would wait a couple