Group Behavior Research Essay Example

Social psychology studies the way people are impacted by social influences to do things that are not consistent with their typical behavior. Meaning people will conform or behave in ways that are socially accepted. Social psychology consists of four components, attitude, social perception, social influence, and group behavior. Attitude is cognitive and behavioral tendencies based on evaluating people, places, and things we like and dislike. The impressions others leave on us is social perception. Social influence studies how people influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of those around them. Groups are vital to human function. Groups satisfy our need for affection, belonging, and attention. These groups can influence us into doing things we usually would not do as individuals. Group behavior is the way people behave differently as a group versus individually. 

The Journal article "Dispositions and Skills: An Argument for Virtue Ethics against Situationism" by Janina Angeli M. Magundayao discusses how our behavior can be affected by situational factors and that we should not give up our virtues or character based on those situations. The article, on page two, states, "Empirical results from social psychology show that situational factors have a more significant effect on overt behavior than an individual's possession of certain character traits. Situationists say that we have become fond of attributing possession of a character trait to a person when we see her perform a certain kind of behavior when in fact, character traits have less to do with one's behavior than situational factors have." Throughout the journal article, Janina Angeli M. Magundayao provides experiments and examples demonstrating situationism, conformity, dispositions, and virtues. Situationism is the concept that people are more influenced by external factors rather than personality traits and motivations. Social Psychology experiments have proven that situational factors influence behavior more than dispositions do. 

The father of virtue is Aristotle.  As page eight of the journal states, "We cannot be praised or blamed for having (or not having) feelings and capacities because these do not involve a decision. Acting from a stable state of character to Aristotle means acting from virtue: it involves a decision—the choice to act in a way that is coherent with our past decisions." Aristotle's notion of virtue is acquired through the repetition of activities. 

Psychological research methods include case studies, surveys, naturalistic observation, correlation, and experiments. Case studies collect information about individuals and small groups allowing researchers to collect broad perspectives of answers. Surveys learn about mental processes and behavior where they cannot be observed in natural settings or through experiments. Surveys are one of the most reliable forms of research because they allow us to understand personal experiences better. Studying people in their natural habitats is called naturalistic observation. Naturalistic observation gives observers a first-hand experience of social behavior in natural settings allowing them to see things they would not usually see in a controlled setting. Correlation is the study of whether one measured behavior is related to another. This form of research is fast and effective. Experimental research is when a group of participants obtains treatment, and then participants are observed to determine whether their behavior changes or not. Experimental research is valuable because it happens in controlled environments and can provide precise results. 

The article provides an example of experimental research. The article states on page four, "In one of their experiments, Hartshorne and May measured the tendencies of school children to display deceptive and honest behaviors in varying situations. They found out that while the children's behavior are consistent, this consistency is dependent on the similarity of the situations that the children find themselves in." In the article, a child, Dorthy, is tested in an experiment. The journal article states, "Dorothy has displayed the tendency to cheat on her exams by means of copying from answer keys. Even though we have seen her cheat this way on many occasions, this does not mean that she also cheat using a different method on a different kind of test… if we would like to prevent Dorothy from cheating on her tests, we should not give her the same kind of test where we have seen her cheat. Dorothy's history of cheating will only be more likely to repeat if she is given the same kind of test over and over." Experiments use independent and dependent variables. The independent variable in this experiment is the test Dorthy is provided, and the dependent variable is whether or not Dorthy will cheat. This evidence represents situationism. Meaning that Dorthy does not have a "cheating personality." However, she cheats because of the situation she is put in.

The other research methods could be used to demonstrate conformity and situationism. A case study could be used by getting a small group of friends and studying their behavior individually and how they act when they get together. Surveys could be provided to a group of friends, asking about their behavior individually versus how they are in a group. Questions like, "Do you find yourself doing things you normally would not do alone when you are with a group of people?" or "Do you feel you need to act a certain way with a group of people to fit in?" Questions like this will allow researchers to better understand conformity and how people's situations affect their typical behavior. The most suitable forms of research to test situationism and conformity would be correlational research or naturalistic observation. Both forms of research would provide a more realistic result because they do not control variables while an experiment does. With naturalistic observation and correlational research, someone's day-to-day life, interests, and authentic personality is observed without being controlled. Then their behavior on how they act with colleagues or friends is observed without being controlled. This observation allows connections between self-personality and group influence to form conclusions on situationism and conformity. Performing naturalistic observation allows researchers to see someone's authentic self in their natural and safe habitat, allowing researchers to gather accurate information.