Collective acts of disruption and violence are sometimes viewed as expressions of social protest, and sometimes as crime or rebellion, leading to different community reactions.
The impact of social control on political protestors is an important but neglected area of study. There are four major issues to consider: (1) who and what is controlled, (2) how control is attempted, (3) who controls, and (4) the effects of control on protest groups.
Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group.
This change is in response to real (involving the physical presence of others) or imagined (involving the pressure of social norms / expectations) group pressure.
Cohesiveness has been a topic of long-term interest in sociology and psychology as well as in mental health and more recently in public health.
While the concept of social cohesion is intriguing, it has also been frustrating because its multiple definitions prevent its meaningful measurement and
application.
What ultimately drives human behaviour? Leading professor of psychology, Michele Gelfand, suggests that culture is one of the last uncharted frontiers. From her pioneering research into cultural and social norms she’s found an important distinction between tight and loose cultures, and their tendency to make or break rules.
Contrary to popular perception, the Chinese Communist Party’s control over online discourse is not absolute; complete control would be impractical in a country as large, diverse, and dynamic as the PRC.
This chapter discusses the importance of social norms—the explicit or implicit rules specifying what behaviours are acceptable in society. What people see as normal, desirable, or aberrant determines their sense of right and wrong, and can both drive and hold back the search for social justice.
In psychology, the Asch conformity experiments or the Asch paradigm were a series of studies directed by Solomon Asch studying if and how individuals yielded to or defied a majority group and the effect of such influences on beliefs and opinions. Developed in the 1950s, the methodology remains in use by many researchers. Uses include the study of conformity effects of task importance, age, gender,and culture.
The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram.
Grant Cox is a 23-year-old Michigan Tech Mechanical Engineering alumni who now works as a technical marketing representative for Caterpillar. During his time at Tech, Grant became very involved with the admissions process, working both as a campus tour guide and an Orientation Team Leader. He also served as a scholarship panelist for the Leading Scholars program, an award that had helped him make his own college decision as a prospective student.
This video, building on the ideas of Ernest Becker, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Emerson, examines why we are so susceptible to conformity and looks at why nonconformity, or the cultivation of one’s uniqueness, is such an important ingredient in a life well-lived.
This short revision video takes a look at a key topic in Social Psychology - Conformity.
What has protest done for us lately? Smartphones and social media are supposed to have made organizing easier, and activists today speak more about numbers and reach than about lasting results.
Cultural Psychology Research Suggests The U.S. May Be Less Individualistic After Coronavirus Pandemic
Conformity is the tendency for an individual to align their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those of the people around them. Conformity can take the form of overt social pressure or subtler, unconscious influence
Why do people tend to do what others do, prefer what others prefer, and choose what others choose?
We are seeing a level of organizing with little precedent – but it’s time for stronger forms of demonstration, such as sit-ins and street blockades.
Online movements can burn out faster than campaigns that spend months or even years forging in-person connections.
What Motivates Nonconformity? Uniqueness Seeking Blocks Majority Influence / Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, available as ResearchGate PDF
Introduces the methodology of the research conducted in 97 communities of 20 countries designed to capture men's and women's perspectives and their own accounts of how they experience gender differences in their households and communities.
Social norms, the informal rules that govern behavior in groups and societies, have been extensively studied in the social sciences.
Social norms guide humans’ everyday behavior, and previous research has shown that social norms consistently predict some forms of political participation. Failure to conform to norms may lead to deviation and possible rejection, which humans innately seek to avoid since it threatens their need for belongingness.