Professional and Personal Examples of How Social Groups May Influence You as an Individual, Essay Example

From the dawn of mankind there has been a need for social groups.  By our evolutionary nature we are social animals in need of companionship and interchange of ideas.  From the beginning we learnt that our survival depends upon our ability to help one another and prosper together.  Equally our common values, beliefs and behavioural attitudes make us stronger in a group and thereby reduce external threat.  Even today this bonding continues with social networking on the increase through the internet and social networking software i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Linked In etc.  Essentially we are conformist by nature and respond to other peoples rules ” When a person in a group does not conform, then they may be considered a deviant and both private and public advice may be given to them on how to fit in. If they still do not obey norms, they will eventually be ejected and membership of the group revoked.” (syque, 2010)

Anyone who has taken part in a demonstration will recognize that you have strong personal beliefs that need airing.  Further these beliefs are consolidated and reinforced when you join a group of a similar mind.  The joining of the group amplifies your emotional response and this can lead to either peaceful or violent persuasion, consider ” It was not the ‘collective mind’ or the ‘crowd impulse’ which stormed the Bastille and guillotined scores of aristocrats. It was the individual citizen who did this [. . .] The individual in the crowd behaves just as he would behave alone, only more so. [. . .] All behaviour phenomena of groups are reducible to  mechanisms of individual behaviour.”  (Swaab, 2005).

Personal family networking has been enhanced by sites like ‘Facebook’ where you can share experiences, stories, photographs, music and other media with your friends and family. Provided they have access to the internet and a computer they can join you online to share social experiences.  An example that breaks the barrier of distance and still allows social groups to communicate and stay in touch with one another.  The concept is also used in business with sites like ‘Linked in’ that enable you to share a network of business contacts, introductions from friends create new people in the network and thereby extend your business social horizons.  The use of blog sites enable you to contribute your thoughts and opinions and share these online with a diversified cultural social network.  The feedback and responses stimulate greater debate and discussion of the subject matter.  Twitter is a good example of a site that explores these dynamics.

I personally use Facebook to send my photographs and stories to friends and family in different countries throughout the world.  This has increased dialogue and communication and enables you to keep in touch with people who reside in different countries and you only see in real time occasionally.  The use of web cams on the computer has enhanced the experience creating a virtual environment where you can interact with one another in real time.  A more localised experience is belonging to a community book club where we exchange our thought and opinions on different books that we read as a group learning experience.  This enables individual viewpoints to be expressed about the book in order to see if consensus opinions are reached or whether the group response is different to your own.  Where differences occur you can explore with your colleagues how they arrived at a different conclusion and thereby widen your horizons on the subject matter.  Social networks thereby enhance your sense of belonging and help you gain satisfaction and self esteem by helping others whilst enhancing personal knowledge.

Works Cited

Swaab, T. P. (2005). Social influence in small groups: An interactive model. Retrieved 1 23, 2010, from European Review of Psychology: http://psy.ex.ac.uk/~tpostmes/PDF/PostmesHaslamSwaabERSP05.pdf

syque. (2010, 1 4). Normative Social Influence. Retrieved 1 23, 2010, from Changing minds.org: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/normative_social_influence.htm