Perspectives on Social BehaviorIntroduction to Social Behavior Perspectives on Prosocial Behavior Publications Related to Social Behavior
Introduction to Social BehaviorFrom the moment of birth, humans are social creatures. Indeed, without social interactions (the support of caregivers), no infant would survive. Even when we become capable of living independently, very few people seek to live in isolation. (The Unabomber, living in a cabin in the hills and mailing bombs to people he'd never met, was unusual--and his behavior reflected this.) Instead, we generally welcome social interactions, and no study of behavior would be complete without considering these interactions. The study of social behavior is often referred to as "social psychology", but the reality is that studying social interactions is not solely the domain of psychologists--sociologists and anthropologists, among others, also study social interactions in various ways. What distinguishes social psychology from these other disciplines is the emphasis on the individual as the focus of study--that is, social psychologists tend to focus on how individuals act in social situations, and how they are influenced by social processes. Sometimes, the focus is on how the individual is affected by others--what is called social influence. Social influence can include direct influences, like group decision making, as well as indirect influences, like imagining how friends would react to a particular situation. In other cases, social psychologists study the cognitive processes that we use in understanding ourselves and others, called social cognition. Stereotyping and attitude change are examples of social cognitive processes. (Note that while one might imagine that social cognition is simply a sub-area of the Cognitive Approach, in fact, the behaviors related to social cognition can be explained from a variety of approaches--for example, stereotyping can be discussed by the Biological Approach in terms of evolutionary processes.) Obviously, social behavior is a broad topic, and there is a wealth of material available related to almost any aspect of the subject. Apart from the discussion in the text, you may find the following sources useful for further exploration. Resources Social Psychology Network--A very extensive site, providing access to a wide range of material and links to other sites; maintained by Scott Plous of Wesleyan University. PsyberSite--Provides extensive material on selected topics, as well as links; created at at Miami Univ., Ohio, by Richard Sherman and his students.
You only have to pick up a newspaper or watch the nightly news to realize that aggressive behavior is all too common. Murders and assaults by individuals, riots at political demonstrations or sporting events, and wars are never far from the headlines. Why is aggression so common? And is there anything that society can do about it? For psychologists, trying to understand behavior is always the primary goal, and this is equally true of aggression. Interestingly, psychologists from all five approaches have addressed the issue, and have often come to very different conclusions about the causes of aggressive behavior. To many Psychodynamic and Biological theorists, aggression is an innate drive, which arose as a product of the competition which Darwin called natural selection (sometimes called "survival of the fittest"). To psychologists from the other approaches, aggressive behavior is learned, like all behavior. Thus, the approaches fundamentally differ in terms of explaining how aggression occurs. While one might be inclined to regard the dispute as largely theoretical, and therefore irrelevant to everyday life, the implications of the theories are significant in terms of deciding how society should deal with aggression. To those who believe aggression is an innate drive, and therefore unavoidable, the goal is to try to channel aggression into appropriate activities, like sports instead of war. Doing so, they argue, produces a release of drive energy called catharsis. By contrast, those who believe that aggression is learned argue that providing opportunities for "catharsis" really simply teaches people to engage in more aggressive behavior. Nowhere is this disagreement clearer than in discussions about the impact of observing violence. Television, movies, and video/computer games are often full of violence, either simulated (in movies and games) or real (in the case of television news and "docudramas") . What impact, if any, does this frequent exposure to aggressive behavior have on people? According to social learning theory, it will make aggression more likely; the concern is particularly significant when talking about the impact on children, who are presumably more impressionable. As the text discusses, there have been thousands of studies of the issue in the past forty years, and while the majority of the studies clearly favor the social learning interpretation over catharsis, individual studies always have limitations, and the debates about public policy continue. The issue is further muddied, because some would say that, regardless of the theoretical arguments, there is no practical impact of observing violence, because most people are capable of discriminating between fantasy and reality. Let's hope so, because the indications are that entertainment media are more saturated with graphic visual portrayals of violence today than ever. ResourcesHow Aggressive Are You?--On-line self-quiz of aggressiveness; from website for Aronson et al's Social Psychology, 3rd ed. Behaviorist The frustration-aggression hypothesis--Classic 1941 article by Miller et al., proposing that aggression was a response to frustration, not an innate drive; from Christopher Green's York Univ. website on classic readings in psychology. Cognitive Social cognition--Introductory discussion by Bill Huitt & John Hummel of Valdosta State Univ.; includes links to other topics, including social learning theory. Albert Bandura--Chapter on life and theory of one of the pioneers of research on imitation; from on-line personality text by George Bouree of Shippensburg University. http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/bandura.html Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation--Classic article by Bandura, Ross, & Ross (1961) which started the debates about the impact of children observing violence; from Christopher Green's York Univ. website. Psychodynamic Catharsis, Aggression, and Persuasive Influence--1999 article by Baumeister et al., arguing that not only does catharsis not work, but that believing it does leads to even greater aggression after exposure to violence; from Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Children and Media Violence Children and Television Violence--APA report for the general public, summarizing research findings on the topic. Television Violence: A Review--Lengthy (70 pp.) 1995 review by psychologist Wendy Josephson for Dept. of Canadian Heritage. Studying Television Violence: A Research Agenda--Extensive 1997 review by family researcher John Murray of Kansas State Univ. Children and Television Violence--1999 statement by American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry , partially reflecting a psychodynamic perspective on the issue. Video Games and Aggression--April 2000 article by Anderson & Dill, arguing that playing violent video games increases both short-term and long-term aggressive behavior ; from Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
While the debates about aggression in general, and media violence in particular, continue, one must remember that not all social behavior is negative. Indeed, there are many instances in which people help others, sometimes at great risk or cost to themselves. Helping a person in distress represents an example of altruism, a form of prosocial behavior (empathy and making amends for wrongs are other examples). What motivates someone to help another person? And can society do anything to promote such behavior? Like aggression, the attempt to understand altruism has led to theoretical and even philosophical disagreements. At the most basic level, the debate focusses on whether true altruism even exists--that is, will anyone really help someone if there is truly nothing to gain? From a Biological point of view, such behavior would seem contrary to the demands of natural selection; instead kin altruism suggests that one only helps others who are perceived as genetically related--one's family first, then one's tribe. A Cognitive variant, social exchange theory, suggests that altruism involves perceived gains, but that the gains can be social rather than genetic--for example, if I help you, then you may later be able to help me in some other way. Unfortunately, true altruism is difficult to prove, because critics can always claim that some gain exists, but is not recognized. Whatever the ultimate truth is, it is nonetheless gratifying to recognize that in daily life, there are still many cases where people go out of their way to help strangers, as some of the examples below illustrate. ResourcesProsocial Behaviour--Information and links by Tom Farsides, Univ. of Sussex. Prosocial Behavior--Brief summary of basic findings, with self-quiz and exercises; by Sven Puetter of Keio University, Japan. Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute--Site provides information about altruistic behavior and links to related sites; created by Samuel and Pearl Oliner of Humboldt State University. Altruism in Everyday Life What Motivated the Rescuers?--Article by Eva Fogelman discussing altruism in the context of individuals who helped hide Jews from the Nazis in World War II; part of the Holocaust Commission's education site. Giraffe Project Heroes Program--Web site for non-profit Giraffe Project ("honoring people who stick their neck out"), discussing program for fostering prosocial behavior in children; includes interesting profiles of "giraffe" individuals. Biological Kin Selection and Altruism--On-line slide show discussing sociobiology of prosocial behavior, created by Joan Strassman, a biologist at Rice University. The Biological Basis of Morality--April, 1998 article in Atlantic Monthly by E. O. Wilson, one of the founders of sociobiology. Cognitive Helping and Social Exchange--Brief interactive exercise exploring social exchange model of prosocial behavior; part of website for Aronson et al's Social Psychology, 3rd ed. Psychodynamic Social Evolution, Psychoanalysis, and Human Nature--Excellent 1988 article from Social Policy by Daniel Kriegman and Charles Knight, outlining basic Biological and Psychodynamic views of prosocial behavior. Children and Prosocial Behavior Developing Social Competence in Children--Article by Wendy Schwartz of Columbia University, discussing relationship of social skills to both aggressive and prosocial behavior. What Makes Kids Care?--APA report for general public on what research tells us about fostering prosocial behavior in children. Developing Empathy in Children and Youth--Lengthy article by Kathleen Cotton, exploring research on fostering empathy; part of Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory website.
Publications Related to Social BehaviorJournal of Personality and Social Psychology--Primary APA journal for research on social behavior; contains tables of contents for current and past issues, and a few selected full-text articles. Journal of Social Issues--Published by Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues; takes an applied focus. Site contains tables of contents and some abstracts. Aggressive Behavior--Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression; contains tables of contents, some organizational links. |