Tma_02

Drawing on appropriate evidence from chapters describe how groups can influence people in positive and negative ways' When we identify our self with a group we tend to feel a sense of social identity, acceptance and a sense of security. We take on a role within the group and sometimes we feel group pressure to conform to the tendencies of the group. In a group you will find everyone to have similar habits and the same likes and dislikes. We may sometimes belong to more than one group and because of this we have different social identities to allow us to fit in to the various groups we are associated with. For Example a mother maybe a student in University, have a job in a supermarket and be a wife at home with all those demanding roles, the mother would have to be able to adjust to the different social settings and social identities. I am going to look at a few studies that have been carried out and describe how groups can influence people in positive and negative ways. I will begin by looking at the positive effects of being a part of a group can have on us as individuals. From an early age we are influenced by the people we grow up around. When heading in to adulthood this influence can play a vital role in shaping our personality and help us conform to the norms of society. For example a series of studies were conducted by Muzafer Sherif et al (1961) involving young boys at summer camp. The boys were split in to two groups, as time went on the boys in each group became competitive but quite close. A tournament was then arranged between the two groups, it was noted that although there were some aggression there, were also some good traits which stood out such as Co-operation, Group loyalty and solidarity. I believe the boys were influenced to act in a positive way as they were all of similar ages, same gender and were put in to the same circumstance of being in at a summer camp which meant they were in regular proximity to one another. Another Example can be found in Spoors et al. (2010) an extract from a book ‘Kondo’s story’ where a Japanese American woman carries out a participant observation and travels to stay with a family in Japan to do some academic anthropological research, to try and learn the origin and discover her Japanese culture. At first she found it quite hard to adapt and follow the correct etiquette. Kondo described feeling conflicted by playing the role as a Japanese woman having to conform to the traditions of washing, cleaning and also putting the man of the household first in all instances and obeying all commands by him. As time went on she began to understand the culture and the traditions more and had a positive feeling towards the family and wanted to behave in more of a Japanese way. Kondo describes how pleased she felt being able to fit in to and learn about a new side to ‘herself’ that she never knew was there before. She began to feel that she was adapting to everyday life. This example shows that although Kondo felt she was in a conflicting role at first, she quickly adapted to the norms of Japanese society and came away feeling positive and that the influence from the family she was in turned out to be a positive one. I will now look at the negative effects of being in group can have on us. There is an example found in Spoors (pg 96) of a cult called “Heavens Gate”, which combined Christianity with the belief in the existence of U.F.O’s. In early 1997, thirty nine members of the cult committed suicide after being told that their souls would be transferred into a spaceship. Many of the members had cut off contact with their families and had sold everything they owned, in the belief of what they had been told by the leaders of the group. They lived a celibate life with eight of their male members submitting to voluntary castration, preparing for a new gender-free level of existence. This example shows a negative side of being in a group and how powerful group influence can have on us as the cult brain washed its members in to believing things that were not real and could never actually happen. The members were attracted by the Security, group membership, and the feeling of being cared for which comes with being a part of any group although the cult was not offering a positive influence to the members. My final example is given in Spoors (2007pg 94) is an experiment carried out in America by Phillip Zimbardo in 1971. He and his colleagues set up a fake prison situation and randomly chose a group of men to act as the guards and the prisoners over a period of two weeks. However after just six days the experiment had to be called to an end after both of the groups took their allocated roles too seriously. Both sides were showing concerning signs of brutality and emotional disturbance. This experiment shows us just how quickly normal rational people can become violent and aggressive when expected to act in a certain way. We have all been in situations where we realize something is expected of us. For example when we all go to out to work we take on a role of whatever our job title is and act in a formal way but as soon as we are back at home and are around our peers we are more relaxed and behave in a more informal way. In conclusion, Groups can have an influence on people in a positive way as when we become part of a group it gives us a valued social position, self esteem and a sense of security. We identify ourselves with a group by having cultural, age, gender or have other shared influences, we tend to follow the collectivist culture of the group rather than the individualist culture seen in example Muzafer Sherif et al experiment. This level of conformity can also be presented in a negative way and can lead to manipulation, prejudice and discrimination. The security of a being in a group can also lead to people to start seeing themselves as the ‘in-group’ and others who are not apart of the same group as the ‘out-group’ as seen with the ‘Heavens Gate Cult’.