Group Social Influence

Group Orientation and Social Influence

Human behaviors are not always guided by personal feelings or internal urges. To the contrary, human behavior is inextricably linked to the context with in which it is committed. In other words, we often behave according to certain standards, norms, expectations and ideals that have originated outside of us and typically in broader systems like families, cultural identities, communities, ethnicities and nationalities. These social systems are often directly at the root of behavioral patterns and tendencies, and may help us to explain human behaviors as they occur en masse.

In the field of behavioral psychology, B.F. Skinner stands above others for the insight which he would provide on the relationship between individual behaviors and their broader social contexts. B.F. Skinner's ideas regarding operant behavior are crucial to understanding the way that group orientation causes individuals to behave. Human beings, Skinner would surmise,...
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