Impact of social context on conformity, obedience, and helping behaviors.

Answer

Social Psychology Theories to Explain Behavior

A wide range of social psychology theories describes the origins of different approaches and perspectives. For instance, the cognitive-development theory postulates that children copy models of the same sex since they consider them the same (Bussey & Bandura, 1984). This paper explains three scenarios of a 19-year-old male contemplating suicide after being raped and fearing that the pictures will be posted online. The discussion further entails recommendations for reducing derogatory comments and increasing the supportive ones.

Social Contexts of Conformity, Obedience, and Helping Behaviors

There are two primary forms of social influence. These include implicit and explicit expectations. Implicit expectations refer to the unuttered rules, while explicit expectations are formally and clearly stated. Conformity, an implicit expectation, involves an individual changing behavior voluntarily to copy those of his or her peers. In a social context such as dressing, attending social events, or taking drugs, one will likely behave according to peers. As described in reading 10.2, conformity is contagious, which demonstrates its power. From the child’s development perspective, an individual is likely to behave in a certain manner since another person of the same sex acts in the same way (Bussey & Bandura, 1984). This defines the cognitive-development theory.

Obedience as an explicit expectation entails an individual behaving in a certain manner since a person of high status orders them to act like that. Such an individual may be a partner, organizational leader, or a parent. The social context impact on obedience involves the existence of some social punishment due to disobedience. Obedience can be explained from the social impact theory, where there is a force influencing an individual to behave in a certain manner (Chang et al., 2018). In the parent-child example, failure by the child to behave according to the parent's expectations attracts a form of punishment. As demonstrated in reading 10.4, obedience at any cost depends on authority. It is also related to possible punishment due to disobedience.

Helping behavior entails assisting with benefit to others regardless of the motivation or reward. The behavior is voluntary and involves a wide range of actions, including rescuing, sharing, and comforting. According to Poepsel and Schroeder (2019), helping is a prosocial act intended to eliminate others' needs. The social context that influences helping may involve a personal request or observation of one’s suffering, prompting the helping act. During help, there is some sacrifice made by the individual offering assistance. Various factors influence the helping act, such as who, where, and when.

Social Psychology Theories in the Scenarios

The three scenarios can be described through social psychology theories. In the first instance, some individuals are encouraging the victim to commit suicide. In the second scenario, there is a small group that is belittling and using profanity. These individuals are encouraging the victim to commit suicide. The positioning theory entails the moral orders developing from conversation due to the talk, the individuals’ positions, and the story (Harre, 2015). In this scenario, the individuals have interpreted the story-line in a different manner prompting them to use harmful language.

The scenario involving supportive comments from a large group of individuals reflect on helping behavior. Regardless of whether the individuals posting the comments know the victim, they choose to offer support, including a helpline. Helping as a prosocial behavior can be linked to social learning theory. According to Rosenhan (1972), not all learning involves extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards, including personal satisfaction and motivation. The helping act is learned from observations and imitating others. Therefore, the supportive comments emanate from others aimed at helping the victim.

In the third scenario, it can be explained from the bystander effect and diffused responsibility. According to Darley and Latane (1986), bystanders are less likely to intervene due to the diffusion of responsibility. The victim’s online followers have not responded as others have already taken action. Online friends are less likely to act since they perceive others can offer assistance. Also, they have already seen the supportive comments, thus assuming that the victim has been helped. 

Recommendation to Reduce Derogatory Comments

Increasing the supportive comments and reducing the derogatory comments is based on social influence. The primary recommendation is to have a close friend or some online followers to provide a supportive comment and respond to the negative ones, including those encouraging the individual to commit suicide. Applying the concept of conformity behavior, the derogatory comments are likely to reduce if there are more supportive responses to the victim (Mallinson & Hatemi, 2018). Besides, conformity is contagious and will influence others to respond. Another recommendation is to have an individual with authority, including a doctor or parent, to request those providing derogatory comments to stop. The perceived power concept and compliance behavior are reflected in honoring such a request.  

In summary, social psychology theories explain various behaviors, such as helping, compliance, obedience, and conformity. The three scenarios above depict this relationship, where the relationship between social learning and bystander effect models and principles have been related to the different behaviors, such as helping and failure to comment, respectively. Therefore, the derogatory comments can be reduced by responding to the negative statements and making requests to the group calling for suicide to reconsider their arguments.