Social Dynamics (Group Behavior)

sub-area

Social dynamics is the study of how individual behavior is modified by the presence, real or imagined, of other people — encompassing conformity (the adjustment of beliefs and behaviors toward group norms), social proof (using others' behavior as information about correct action), authority influence (deference to perceived legitimate power), groupthink (the suppression of dissent in cohesive groups seeking consensus), diffusion of responsibility (reduced individual action when others are present), and the systematic ways in which group membership shapes identity, judgment, and behavior.

Role

Social influence is the most powerful and least acknowledged determinant of human behavior. The majority of people significantly overestimate the degree to which their beliefs, preferences, and behaviors are the product of independent rational evaluation and significantly underestimate the degree to which they are the product of social environment. Research by Milgram, Asch, Zimbardo, and Cialdini demonstrates that ordinary people under ordinary social conditions will conform to false group consensus, obey destructive authority, and abandon individual moral judgment in ways that are predictable, consistent, and almost universally denied by the people exhibiting the behavior. Understanding social influence is not merely academically interesting — it is the knowledge required to recognize when you are being socially influenced and to make conscious choices about whether to comply or resist.

Subtopics

References

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