Introduction
Human behavior is highly influenced by human interaction. The behavior of people varies greatly depending on the social situation. Every situation makes people to exhibit a different set of mannerisms. Social cognition, the self and attitude all influence human behavior. Social cognition refers to the schemas, first impressions, and stereotypes that influence human behavior. Self-esteem, self-consistency, self-presentation and self-concepts also affect how people interact with each other. Attitudes refer to the general evaluation of a person or group that can range from negative to positive. These issues influence how people interact with each other to a great deal (Christine, 2002).
The attitude of a person is a great determinant of other people’s attitudes and highly influences behavior. People never act the same depending on the person and the social situation. Human behavior is therefore a consequence of human interaction. Interaction with human beings can result in a change of behavior depending on whether the situation of interaction is positive or negative (Graham, 2009). This paper analyses the concepts of human interaction of human behaviors from a social psychology perspective. The two behaviors chosen for this analysis are i) Meditation as a way of relieving stress in a university student ii) Alcoholism as a way of relieving stress in a university student
The specific concepts and the context in which the behavior for analysis occurred
The context of the exhibition of these behaviors is in a university campus. Alcoholism and meditation are some of the coping mechanisms used by university students to respond to stressful situations at school. The stresses of coping with the demands of learning on campus can cause increased levels of stress among students. The increased stress levels often lead to a variety of coping behaviors some which can be negative while the others can be positive (Sonderegger, 2004).
Yolanda Ross is a former university student who used to hang out with two groups of friends. The first clique of friends was mainly composed of drunkards and alcohol abusers. The second group was a group that was highly enthusiastic about the martial arts and Yoga. The coping mechanisms that Yolanda Adams used to handle stress were highly determined by the group she was with when hanging out. Yolanda Adams used to be a teetotaler before joining campus. However, the stresses of campus life and the influences of her alcoholic group of friends influenced her into becoming an alcoholic for the first two years of her campus life. Yolanda used to engage in binge drinking when stressed and when hanging out with her drunkard friends.
Yolanda Ross stopped drinking altogether, when she changed her group of friends and started hanging out with a clique of friends that were very passionate about yoga classes in the final years of her campus life. This group usually used yoga and meditation as a stress coping strategy and in a way, it has influenced Yolanda to stop drinking as a coping strategy for stress. The behavior Yolanda Adams used to relieve stress was determined by the clique of friends she used to have with while on campus.
Yolanda used to be an alcoholic when she used to hang out with her drinking peers but became a yoga enthusiast and a teetotaler when she started hanging out with the other group of yoga enthusiasts. The behavior of Yolanda Ross while on campus used to be heavily influenced by the group she used to interact with at the university.
The precursors and the consequences of the behaviors according to the social psychology concepts
Coping mechanisms are the ways in which people deal with minor and major stress of life. Some of the coping mechanisms are unconscious processes; others are learned behaviors while some coping processes are skills that people practice to learn over time. People learn these coping mechanisms as they progress through life. Some people Learn positive ways of dealing with stress while others learn detrimental ways of dealing with stress (Graham, 2009). In case of Yolanda Ross, her interactions at the university heavily influenced her choice of coping mechanism to the stresses of learning.
The group she used to hang out with immediately after admission to campus made her start drinking as a way of relieving stress. However, when she changed her inner circle of friends, and started hanging out with the other group that practiced yoga, she resorted to meditation as a coping strategy for stress. Group thinking had a big influence on Yolanda Ross choice for relieving stress.
Social groups highly influence behavior. The Social cognition, the self and attitude influence human behavior. Social cognition refers to the schemas, first impressions, and stereotypes that influence human behavior. Self-esteem, self-consistency, self-presentation and self-concepts also affect how people interact with others. Attitudes refer to the general evaluation of a person or group that can range from negative to positive. Each of these issues impact how people interact with each other the attitude of a person is a great determinant of other people’s attitudes and their influence behavior (Christine, 2002).
People never act the same depending on whom they are interacting with as Yolanda Ross has portrayed in her coping behaviors. Human behavior is therefore best known because of human interaction.
Phenomenon associated with your selected behaviours: Group think
In the two social groups that Yolanda Adams hangs out with, groupthink is the most prevalent phenomenon associated with the two different behaviors for coping with stress. Groupthink refers to the pattern of thought characterized by the conformity to the values of a group and self-deception. Groupthink occurs when a highly cohesive group is very concerned with maintaining cohesion that it fails to look at all the other options and the evaluations of their consequences (Graham, 2009).
The groups that Yolanda Ross used to hang out with on campus were highly cohesive and determined the behaviors of all the other group members in each situation. The group members only evaluated the course of actions to take for relieving stress but they did not evaluate the consequences. Yolanda could engage in binge drinking without thinking about the consequences as long as the other group members obliged. Group thinking also helped her develop an interest in meditation as a form of stress coping mechanism.
The need for therapeutic action
Yolanda does not need therapeutic action for engaging in meditation as a stress coping strategy since it is a positive way of managing stress. However, Yolanda needed some counseling to be able to understand the dangers of binge drinking. Binge drinking is associated with the health problems like unintentional injuries, alcohol poisoning, and poor control of blood sugar. Yolanda needs counseling in order to be aware of the dangers of binge drinking.
References
Christine, B., (2002). Advanced psychology: applications issues and perspectives.
Washington: Nelson Thorne’s.
Graham, R. (2009). Putting psychology in its place: critical historical perspectives. London:
Routledge.
Sonderegger, T., (2004). Cliffs quick review psychology. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
