Describe How Groups Can Influence People in Positive and Negative Ways.
- Submitted by: missgrimtm
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- Date Submitted: 11/08/2011 11:01 AM
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A group consists of three of more individuals. They do not necessarily have to have anything in common, but the majority of the time you would find they have a few similarities to help them bond and find common ground with each another. Each group influences us in both negative and positive ways at any stage of our life. It is important to consider the negative and positive aspects of the three most influential aspects of a group which are group roles, group pressure and group identity. I will discuss each of these in turn using relevant evidence to support my discussion.
Group roles give us a sense of belonging which positively impacts our self esteem. We feel that the group depends on us to contribute that one aspect of our personality that no other member has. For example if you had the role in a group of ‘the funny one’ but decided to draw back from them, you expect the group to no longer share jokes, laugh and have as much fun as when you were present. However group roles also influence us negatively as we feel pressured to keep to that role and not ‘break character’. If you were ‘the funny one’ having a bad day and wanted to express your feelings, you might feel as though you couldn’t due to expectations from other members to consistently keep up the appearance of your ‘funny’ role. An example of roles taking over our true emotions is displayed in an experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo (1973, cited in Spoors et al, 2010) where a simulated prison situation was set up and a group of male participants were assigned the role of ‘guard’ or ‘prisoner’. However, the experiment had to be stopped eight days early due to the participants taking their roles too seriously. The ‘guards’ became increasingly abusive while the ‘prisoners’ became passive and emotionally disturbed. We act out our given roles because we think that is expected from us, so we feel pressured to exceed those expectations. I will now follow on to discuss group pressure in more detail....
Group roles give us a sense of belonging which positively impacts our self esteem. We feel that the group depends on us to contribute that one aspect of our personality that no other member has. For example if you had the role in a group of ‘the funny one’ but decided to draw back from them, you expect the group to no longer share jokes, laugh and have as much fun as when you were present. However group roles also influence us negatively as we feel pressured to keep to that role and not ‘break character’. If you were ‘the funny one’ having a bad day and wanted to express your feelings, you might feel as though you couldn’t due to expectations from other members to consistently keep up the appearance of your ‘funny’ role. An example of roles taking over our true emotions is displayed in an experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo (1973, cited in Spoors et al, 2010) where a simulated prison situation was set up and a group of male participants were assigned the role of ‘guard’ or ‘prisoner’. However, the experiment had to be stopped eight days early due to the participants taking their roles too seriously. The ‘guards’ became increasingly abusive while the ‘prisoners’ became passive and emotionally disturbed. We act out our given roles because we think that is expected from us, so we feel pressured to exceed those expectations. I will now follow on to discuss group pressure in more detail....