Social Behavior In
Different Age
The child’s ordinal position
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The child’s ordinal position in the family has its most
important influence on receptivity to accepting or rejecting
the requests and ideas of legitimate authority. First-born
children in most families are most willing than later-borns
to conform to the requests of authority. They are more
strongly motivated to achieve in school, more
conscientious, and less aggressive.
The child’s social class affects the preparation and
motivation for academic achievement. Children from
middle-class families typically obtain higher grades in
school than children of working or lower-class families
because different value systems and practices are
promoted by families from varied social class backgrounds.
The patterns of socialization
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The patterns of socialization used by parents also
influence the child’s personality. Baumrind
suggests that parents could be classified as
authoritative, authoritarian, or permissive. More
competent and mature preschool children usually
have authoritative parents who were nurturant
but made maturity demands.
Moderately selfreliant children who were a bit
withdrawn have authoritarian parents who more
often relied on coercive discipline. The least
mature children have overly permissive parents
who are nurturant but lack discipline.
Our View of Self
and Others
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The way we look at ourselves plays an important role in how
we see the world. The way we see the world plays an
important role in how we see ourselves. In this sense, our
view of self and others is an ever-changing circle of influence.
We know that those who are happy see more positive aspects
of the world than those who are depressed. We also know that
living in an abusive household or an overly restrictive
environment can both lead to depression.
Social psychology explores the social areas of attribution (how
we interpret those around us) and attraction (what we seek in
a friend or partner).
Attribution Theory
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We tend to explain our own behavior and the behavior of others
by assigning attributes to these behavior. An attribute is an
inference about the cause of a behavior. According to the
Attribution Theory, we tend to explain our own behavior and the
behavior of others by assigning attributes to these behavior.
There are basically two sources for our behavior; those influenced
by situational (external) factors and those influenced by
dispositional (internal) factors. Imagine walking into your
boss's office and he immediately tells you, in an angry tone, not
to bother him. An external explanation of this behavior might be,
"He's really a nice guy but the stress is overwhelming. He needs
a vacation." On the other hand, you might see the same behavior
and say, "What a jerk, I don't know why is so angry all the
time." The same behavior is given two very opposite
explanations.
Many factors play a role in how we assign attributes to
behaviors. Obviously our view of the world, our previous
experience with a particular person or situation, and our
knowledge of the behavior play an important role. Other factors
can influence our interpretation as well, and there are two
important errors or mistakes we tend make when assigning these
attributes.
Fundamental Attribution Error
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This refers to the tendency to over estimate the internal
and underestimate the external factors when explaining the
behaviors of others.
This may be a result of our tendency to pay more attention
to the situation rather than to the individual and is
especially true when we know little about the other
person. For example, the last time you were driving and
got cut off did you say to yourself "What an idiot" (or
something similar), or did you say "She must be having a
rough day."
Chances are that this behavior was assigned mostly internal
attributes and you didn't give a second thought to what
external factors are playing a role in her driving behavior.
Self-Serving Bias
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We tend to equate successes to internal and failures to
external attributes. Imagine getting a promotion. Most of
us will feel that this success is due to hard work,
intelligence, dedication, and similar internal factors.
This bias is true for most people, but for those who are
depressed, have low self-esteem, or view themselves
negatively, the bias is typically opposite. For these people,
a success may mean that a multitude of negatives have
been overlooked or that luck was the primary reason. For
failures, the depressed individual will likely see their own
negative qualities, such as stupidity, as being the primary
factor.
Attraction
Why are we attracted to certain people
and not others? Why do our friends tend
to be very similar to each other? And
what causes us to decide on a mate?
 Many of these questions relate to social
psychology in that society's influence and
our own beliefs and traits play an
important role. Research has found five
reasons why we choose our friends.
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Proximity
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The vast majority of our friends live close to
where we live, or at least where we lived during
the time period the friendship developed.
Obviously friendships develop after getting to
know someone, and this closeness provides the
easiest way to accomplish this goal. Having
assigned seats in a class or group setting would
result in more friends who's last name started
with the same letter as yours
Association
We tend to associate our opinions about
other people with our current state.
 In other words, if you meet someone
during a class you really enjoy, they may
get more 'likeability points' then if you
met them during that class you can't
stand.
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Similarity
On the other hand, imagine that person
above agrees with you this particular class
is the worse they have taken.
 The agreement or similarity between the
two of you would likely result in more
attractiveness
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Reciprocal Liking
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Simply put, we tend to like those
better who also like us
back. This may be a result of the
feeling we get about ourselves
knowing that we are likable.
When we feel good when we are
around somebody, we tend to
report a higher level of attraction
toward that person.
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Physical
Attractiveness
Physical attraction plays a
role in who we choose as
friends, although not as
much so as in who we
choose as a mate.
These points are divided
into categories such as
physical attractiveness,
sense of humor, education,
and wealth.
We rate ourselves on these
same categories and, at
least at some level, know
our score. We tend to then
pick friends and partners
who have a similar score
that we do.
Obedience
and Power
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Power is typically
thought of has having a
certain attribute which
gives one person more
influence over
another. This attribute
could be intelligence or
experience, it could be
job title, or perhaps
money.
According to most social
psychologists, there are
five types of power:
coercive, reward,
legitimate, expert, and
referent.
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Coercive power means the power
punish. Parents are said to have coercive
power because they can place their child in
time-out, for example; bosses have coercive
power because they can fire an employee or
assign an employee a less pleasing job.
Reward power is almost the opposite; it is
the power to reward. In that sense parents
and bosses have this type of power as well,
as do many others in our lives.
Legitimate power refers to the power
granted by some authority, such as the
power a police officer has due to the local or
state government or the power a professor
has due to the rules of a college or
university.
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Expert power results from experience
or education. Those individuals with
more knowledge tend to have more
power in situations where that
knowledge is important. For instance,
the physician will have more power in a
medical emergency than the
plumber. But, when the pipes explode
and the house is being flooded, the
physician is not the person to call.
Finally, referent power refers to
admiration or respect. When we look up
to people because of their
accomplishments, their attitude, or any
other personal attribute, we tend to give
them more power over us. Imagine
being asked to do something by your
"hero" or your favorite movie star; we
are very likely to comply out of
admiration or respect.
The Role of Groups
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We are concerned with our social image or how other people see
us.
When alone, we tend to be more relaxed, less concerned with the
outward expression of our behavior, and are basically 'ourselves.'
Research has found that when others are present, our level of
arousal is increased. In other words, we are suddenly more
aware of what's going on around us. Because of this, we tend to
perform better at tasks that are well learned or simple. When
completing a difficult or new task, however, our performance level
decreases and we tend to do more poorly.
This phenomenon is called social facilitation, and as we try
harder due to the presence of others, our performance actually
decreases for difficult or unlearned tasks. When others are
watching you, however, you are more likely to be self-conscious,
and therefore make more mistakes. Professional basketball
players, however, because the task is so well learned, perform
better when others are watching and they are able demonstrate
their confidence and ability.
Group Think and
Group
Polarization
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If you've ever been involved in a group decision making
process, you've probably seen such things happen: either
the group agrees on all of the major issues, or there is
significant dissent that splits the group. When we all agree,
and are happy with that agreement, we typically do not
want to hear opposing arguments. This phenomenon is
referred to as Group Think. It can lead to impulsive
decisions and a failure to identify and/or consider all sides
of an argument.
Similar to this, Group Polarization refers to a groups
tendency to talk itself into extreme positions. In this case,
a group gets so focused and energized about a decision,
which pushes itself forward faster than originally intended.
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Social loafing
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This theory states that as a group
gets larger, the individual
contribution decreases
disproportionate to the group
size. This is due to the diffusion of
responsibility created as the size of
the group increases. As more people
are added to the group, you will end
up with a small percentage doing a
large portion of the work and a large
percentage doing a much smaller
proportion.
Bystander Effect. The internal push
to help a person in need decreases
as the group gets larger, very similar
to Social Loafing. In this instance,
however, people tend to be followers
and will only get involved if they
witness another person getting
involved.