Group Conformity, opinion leaders and peer pressure....

A group is two or more people who have the same aim, have the same task to complete and have the same understanding...

A group can be described as a set of individuals working together to accomplish something... Businessdictionary.com defines group as "A collection of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interaction, mutual influence, common feeling of camaraderie, and who work together to achieve a common set of goals."

Groups have aims to achieve a target which they have set to accomplish. The aim of the group might be to complete a task or to encourage one another to build a better relationship between the group components.

There are many different types of groups; below is a list of different groups:

•  Aspiration
• Dissociative
• Associative     
• Formal group
• In-formal
• Peers
• Reference groups

Every individual fits in to a group...

Even if that’s university course group members, team mates, work mate’s family or friends... individuals all tend to believe they need to satisfy group members; therefore they pick up habits from group members around them.

Businessdictionary.com defines reference groups as "People whose attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions, preferences, and values are used by an individual as the basis for his or her judgment. One does not have to be (or even aspire to be) a member of a reference group to be negatively or positively influenced by its characteristics." Solomom et.al (1999) defines reference group as

'An actual or imaginary individual or group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individual's evaluations, aspirations, or behaviour'

Opinion Leaders

Businessdictionary.com defines opinion leaders as ‘Influential members of a community, group, or society to whom others turn for advice, opinions, and views.’ Businessdictionary.com also defines opinion leader as ‘Minority group (called early adopters) that passes information on new products (received from the media) to less adventuresome or not as well informed segments of the population. However, only products such as automobiles, books, and clothing are susceptible to such influencers whereas appliances, food, toiletries, etc., are not.’

Peer pressure

Dictionary.com defines peer pressure as ‘social pressure by members of one's peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted.’

Peers everyday make loads o decisions everyday... these decisions are made by influences each other... individuals listen to their peers and make decisions depending on the advice given by peers..

Every individual has been through peer pressure.... I have also been peer pressured because i was influenced by the group I used to hang around with to smoke... Individuals smoke to satisfy the group they associate with..  

Valuesss

Lecture on values is about how and individual is influenced to look at things in a different way.  The dictionary.com defines values as ‘the ideals, customs, institutions, etc of a society towards which the peopleof the group have an affective regard. The values maybe positive, as cleaniness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime or blasphemy.’ Value has many different definitions. I believe values are those things that affect an individual, its their beliefs and something that means something to them. An exmaple of a value is caring for someone. Values come from beliefs, family and culture, the values an individual has depends on how the individual is bought up.

 

Values are like a bike that rides a person through life... Values are aspects that affect an individual’s behaviour towards making everyday important decisions. A value of mine obtaining qualifications, my degree (education). This is important to me as I believe no one can take away my qualifications away from me as I have worked to achieve them.

Below is a formula that shows how values determine an individuals behaviour:



Source: Trionics USA - What forces drive you? (2009)

Values can defined as a belief about some desirable end-state, that transcends specifics situations and guides selection of behaviour (Solomon et al. 1999 2nd edition pg 198).

Below are Kahle's list of values (1983):

-Sense of belonging
-Excitment
-Warm relationships with others
-Self-fulfullment-Being well respected-Fun and enjoyment in life
-Secuirty
-Self-respect
-Sense of accomplishment 

Below is list of values that are important to me:

1.       Religion - parents have brought up to believe

2.       Family

3.       Trust

4.       Education - security

5.       Self respect

6.       Having fun

Below is  TIMELINE  which I created to show the main dates that affected the public and me....

12^th November 1989 – I was born (My birth date)

19^th January 1991 – Brother was born

February 1992 – First holiday to Pakistan

7^th August 1994 – Brother was born

August 1997 – Death of Princess Diana

30^th March 2000 – Sister was born

September 2001 – Twin towers & started secondary school

December 2002 – Brother was born

December 2004 – Tsunami

August 2003 – Hurricane Katrina

July 2005 – London bombing

June 2006 – End of secondary school

August 2006 – Boarding school

July 2007 – Holiday to Pakistan

September 2007 – Start of sixth form

June 2010 – End of sixth form

July 2010 – Pakistan floods

September 2010 – Start of university

November 2010 – Tuition fees rise

Laddering techniques