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Group influences on behaviour

Group influences on behaviour. People belong to groups throughout the span of their lives Some groups are by choice and others we automatically become a member of Successful functioning of a group depends on members working towards a common goal. Peer groups.

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Group influences on behaviour

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  1. Group influences on behaviour

  2. People belong to groups throughout the span of their lives • Some groups are by choice and others we automatically become a member of • Successful functioning of a group depends on members working towards a common goal

  3. Peer groups • A peer group is made up of people who have similar interests, do the same sorts of things and often interact with each other • Peer refers to anyone who has one or more characteristic in common with an individual

  4. Distinguishing characteristics • it often has its own norms or standards of acceptable behaviour • it often has its own style of dress, its own places for socialising, its own taste in music, dancing, sport etc • it usually has its own attitudes to issues such as sex before marriage, smoking, alcohol, illegal drugs, bullying and so on • it often has its own language or expressions which may not make sense to anyone outside the peer group • its members usually discuss their problems with one another but not with outsiders

  5. John Cottrell (1996) • Described the term clique as a relatively small group of friends of similar age, and generally of the same sex, which most adolescents belong to

  6. Peer pressure • Peer pressureis social influence by peers; that is, real or imagined pressure to think, feel or behave according to standards, or ‘guidelines’ that are determined by peers • It can be experienced in a wide variety of areas of everyday life

  7. Categories that peer pressure occurs in

  8. Peer Pressure • The negative influence of peer pressure can often over-emphasised, especially by worried parents (Coleman & Hendry,1999) • Peer influence of a group is usually positive and constructive • Supported by research of Berndt & Zook, 1993 • Influence of peer pressure peaks at age 14 then declines after that

  9. More research • In some areas the influence of ‘best friends’ is greater than that of other friends, and other friends’ influence is greater than that of peers in general (Kaplan, 2004; Heaven, 2001) • Girls generally experience more peer pressure than boys, however they also experience different types of pressure (Kaplan, 2004; Berndt, 1996)

  10. Peer pressure is often not direct, rather coming from a desire to fit in with group norms • Although this pressure is subtler, it can be just as intensive • Low status members in a group are more likely to be influenced by members of the group with higher status

  11. Risk Taking behaviour • Risk-taking behaviouris behaviour that has potential negative consequences • Behaviour viewed as risk-taking has the potential to be harmful • Can be both negative (binge drinking, drug abuse) and positive (performing a brave action, standing up for something you believe in)

  12. Positive risks are still considered risks because there is the potential for negative consequences • Gullone & Moore (2000) identified the social cost of embarrassment or failure, the physical cost of accident and injury, or the emotional cost of fear

  13. Gullone and Moore (2000) • Australian study on risk taking behaviour • Involved giving a risk-taking behaviour questionnaire to a sample of 459 (239 males and 220 females) adolescents from four government high schools in Melbourne • The sample included 197 younger adolescents aged 11 to 14 years (108 males, 89 females) and 262 older adolescents aged 15 to 18 years (131 males, 131 females)

  14. Cont. • The questionnaire required participants to name behaviours they believed to be risky, to judge the riskiness of them, and to rate each risky behaviour according to how often they engaged in it. • On the basis of their results, Gullone and Moore categorised the responses into four types of risk-taking behaviour: • thrill-seeking • reckless • rebellious • anti-social

  15. Thrill-seeking risks involve behaviours that are challenging but relatively socially acceptable, such as dangerous sports • Reckless risks are often thrill-seeking but have a higher chance of not being accepted by the adult population, and have negative social or health-related outcomes. Examples include drinking and driving • Rebellious behaviours involve experimenting with activities that are usually acceptable for adults but are generally disapproved of for adolescents • Anti-social behaviours are those which are considered unacceptable for both adults and adolescents. Examples: cheating and bullying others

  16. Data

  17. Data

  18. Causes of risk taking behaviour • Peer pressure is one factor however not the only important one • Individual factors that can contribute to risk taking behaviour include age, sex, personality type, mental health (for example, whether they are depressed), family background, cultural background, perceived positive outcomes of risky behaviour, the level of maturity or development of the brain and ability to judge the level of risk or potential harm • To date, psychologists have no satisfactory explanation for adolescent risk-taking behaviour (Abbott-Chapman, Denholm & Wyld, 2008; Bennett, 2007; Kaplan, 2004; Carr-Gregg, Enderby & Grover, 2003).

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