Essay on Society Shapes Our Attitudes, Behavior & Character

Society plays an essential role in molding the individual's behavior, attitude, and character right from childhood ages. It is the society that determines how an individual views people and circumstances, one's outlook, and the ethics within a particular person. Culture is a combination of different factors, people, and situations and includes neighborhood, laws, media, and the social amenities around an individual. Right from when an individual is a toddler, a parent may try to instill some norms and characters on the child; however, the most things that will stick with the kid forever are what is learned from the society. The concept of leaning directly from the surrounding environment other than the immediate people one interacts with applies the same to people of different ages and gender (Orwell,1936).

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It is worth noting that human beings are social animals; hence, the concept of behaviourally-influenced public policies and the level at which the plans can be made live shows that the individuals directly respond to the external agency. Behavioral economics is a significant factor that harnesses the said human insight and the work on the premise that leads to a positive impact on the overall population within the vicinity. The behaviors of an individual or group of people can be influenced in a way that is not quickly realized with immediate effect as this happens even without restricting the liberty of the individuals.

The power of societal influence, Social influence is an irresistible force that can change any individual characters and way of thinking irrespective of age or the education background. Over the ages, the psychologists have attempted to study the power of the influence that society poses on the individuals and the way it manages to manipulate people's behavior and dictates one's opinion. Psychology defines social impact as to how an individual change their actions and ideas to conform to the present demands a given social group in society.

People encounter social influence in various forms in the process of going about their daily businesses. For instance, in a school environment, students tend to change how they behave to match that of the other students in the class. Human being always strives to be the same as the majority in the society set up and from this, an individual will change anything possible to meet the standards of the significant social group (Orwell,1936). The same influence applies in coming up with a decision, and it is evident that it is the majority-held opinion of the group that is likely to be adopted by the authority or the group of people responsible for the requested opinion. Therefore, people tend to conform to social influence because of many reasons that vary from mental to physical factors, as outlined below.

Sense of belonging and acceptance, a person conforms to the norms of a given group to gain acceptance and recognition as one of the members. In the contemporary world, several groups of people of all ages are moved by football especially the English Premier League Football Games, the supporters of the football team voluntarily dress in the team uniforms during the matches to feel part of the team on the ground. The text "If you are what you eat, then what am I?" (Kothari, 1999) It gives an excellent example of this insight as to the 9-year-old demand to be fed what other kids in the school eat other than Tuna. The school influences this as the environment where the kid learns.

The drive to achieve a common goal, group conformity, is one factor that is essential in enhancing cooperation when an individual has a mission of making a shared goal. When an individual has the power to influence a full group, the individual has the ability to pursue the group to work collectively. One best instance of the scenario is the charity organization recruiting new staff members who volunteered to advocate for the improvement of a given community aspect; for example, the health condition. In this scenario, mobilizing groups is essential in achieving this goal. As seen above, social influence is necessary for society as it led to various achievements, as explained above. On the same note, societal influence also has some negative impacts, as will be described below.

It enhances cohesion; group conformity is an essential factor in improving cohesion and peaceful coexistence in society. The social grouping has laws and norms that help in governing the groups. The requirements of the organizations for intake that prohibit theft and violence are essential is protecting every individual in the community (Orwell,1936). The laws of the land can be very useful in implementing community policies. Still, without conformity to the norms of the entire group by being law abiders, nothing much will be achieved by the laws in place.

Although group conformity is good in encouraging corporation in achieving a shared goal, it can lead to groupthink forcing the group to the only fall for the views of the majority in pursuit of the given purpose. In this case, the critics and rejection from the members of the contrary opinion can hurt the group performance as the group's ability to assess its behavior and adopting the changes is impeded.

Negative impacts of societal manipulation, Social conformity as a result of the societal influence comes with loads of advantages and negative impact in the same intensity. However, it is the negative impact of social control that in history has impacted several researches on the effects of social conformity.

As a negative impact of social influence, conformity to a narrow set of views and behaviors always tends to discourage nurturing new sets of ideas, which can lead to the improvement of the said group of people. The majority of views and opinions, out of respect for the majority opinion, can, on the other hand, discourage its members with a contrary opinion to debate and question the belief and practices of the members with the popular idea. This applies to the cult society, where individuals seem to be reluctant to ask the authorities publicly as they fear being outcasted.

In world history, social influence in the form of minority influence has been used to impact humanity negatively. This is majorly witnessed in the social-political groupings. For instance, during the Nazi Germany revolution, the followers of Adolf Hitler, the then Nazi leader, accepted and followed their leader fascist view without any contrary opinion. This is evident in the text, Shooting an Elephant. 'No one had the guts to raise a riot, but if a European woman went through the bazaars alone, somebody would probably spit betel juice two over her dress. As a police officer, I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.' The citizens formed a negative view of George Orwell as a result of the war instigated and conducted by few individuals who lead the mass (Orwell,1936). The social influence leads to grouping, prompting the need for leadership that can be used to influence the group negatively. For instance, in the Nazi revolution, the German officer Adolf Eichmann in his attempt to justify his involvement and participation in the Holocaust had a claim that he was merely following the orders of his commander. The effects of him following such rules are still felt in Germany up to this date as humanity lost life, and properties worth billions were destroyed.

Lastly, societal manipulation can also lead to various negative behaviors, especially in children and adolescents who tend to be very susceptible. The influence of peers may lead to some adverse reactions, for instance, drug abuse and other anti-social behaviors (Orwell,1936). The impact of this kind is not only limited to the kids but also it may affect people across all ages and lead to acquiring a behavior that the societal values do not approve due to it's the negative impact it may have on the other members who might not be directly involved.

Managing the societal influence, the management of social influence is essential in embracing the ethical impacts that can be gained from conforming to the group ideas while discarding the ones that affect people negatively. One surest way of dealing with adverse social effects id becoming an independent thinker. The fact that one is easily influenced by mass also implies the individual can quickly settle and reflect on some issues independently. Independence does not mean that one should not subscribe to or identify with any group, but an individual can still belong to any group. Even independent thinking will help in limiting the influence that the group members may have on the individual. The positive impact that we get from other people we should always embrace but scrap off that may lead to adverse behaviors that are contrary to the societal norms.

By becoming an independent thinker, one has an opportunity to have a personal thought and make an independent and informed opinion on any issue of concern, which helps in informing the advice and actions.

Dissociating with the group or the influential peers, this is also another way of dealing with the negative societal influence. Stopping associating with the social grouping that affects our morals negatively is essential in managing control from the group, which is very toxic; for instance, the group that encourages drug abuse and other anti-social behaviors. Other people find it so hard to manage the influence of certain groups as a result of the level of involvement with the members. In such cases, the best way is completely cutting close ties with the group.

CONCLUSION

Society is a significant factor in what a person becomes, it shapes the opinion of individuals concerning what is right or wrong, it teaches on the values that are accepted and naturally instilled the sense of obedience in individual. Societal influence impacts people both positively and negatively; it is, therefore, upon the society to be responsible and chose what to take in and embrace and what to do away with. The society should have authorities that can help discourage some cases of detrimental influence by a given group in the society in a way that it helps rescue the victims and at the same time help in making the perpetrators good members of the society.

The effect of the society on individual behaviours and how they think is evident from both texts. The girl in the text "If you are what you eat, then what am I?" Is highly influenced by the other colleagues in school and want to extend the changes at home where by it can be seen the kid at 9 years old, is already influenced and is voluntarily is willing to change what she eats. On the other hand, due to the hatred that the people had formed against the authority as a form of conformity to the social influence puts the life of George in danger of being battered by the citizens whenever spotted in police uniform. The society has influenced the publics to form a negative attitude on the authority that is not easy to change.

Works Cited

Kothari, Geeta. "If you are what you eat, then what am I?." Kenyon Review (1999): 6-14.

Orwell, George. "Shooting an elephant." New Writing 2 (1936): 501-06.