Social influences
are a component of the four dimensional model of behavior. In order to better understand the influences of others on our own behavior, we
have to first understand their origin.
If you agree with
the general considerations of Darwin’s evolution theory, then you know that “pre-humans”
and early humans were a social species. In fact even today’s primates (our
evolutionary distant cousins) live in groups.
Our ancestors from
a couple of millions years ago were living in small communities of a few tens of
individuals. One very important feature of the human species is division of
labor. In today’s world the division of labor is a given and it is widely
diversified. In the early stages of human evolution, however, the division of
labor was much less diversified (the types of work done were very few). In
addition, early division of labor had a very strong gender component – women were
gathering fruits and other plants while men were hunters. In a similar vein the
parental responsibilities were divided between parents – mothers were
care-givers while the men were providers.
Going back a bit
to evolution theory, there are two major goals that an individual has. First is
survival and the second is successful reproduction, in other words having
children that survive and have children of their own.
These evolutionary
goals are better achieved if an individual (human or pre-human) lives in a
group. Taking this view it is in an individual’s best interest to belong to a
community of (pre)humans than to live alone.
Both survival and
successful reproduction are better achieved in a group. An individual has
better chances of survival if the group organizes defenses against potential
threats such as predators. Similarly, within a group an individual has better
access to food and shelter. Successful reproduction is achieved better in a
group for two major reasons. First, an individual has better chances of finding
a mate in a group. Second, the very large amount of parental investment (taking
care of an infant and of a small child) needed for a newborn to reach adulthood
is easier to be provided if an individual lives in a group.
To summarize, an
individual living within a social group had evolutionary benefits. Individuals
who didn’t live in groups were most likely removed by the evolutionary
mechanism – the individual would die without having children, thus the genes
being lost.
Humans have an
inherent need of belonging to groups. This is not to say that there are no
asocial individuals among us, but at the same time most humans feel a very
powerful negative emotion (very close to real physical pain) when they are
rejected by a group.
Our evolutionary heritage
makes us to have to fit in a social group. Fitting in includes conforming to
the group’s norms with or without awareness. Although in today’s world there
are countless social groups and by all means we have the liberty to choose from
the huge variety, the ancestral need of belonging to a group accompanied by the
miserable feeling of being rejected make us to conform to the rules of the
group to which we belong or in which we are simply by chance.
Fitting in a group
includes adopting and conforming to the group’s norms. Sometimes these norms
have a positive influence on ourselves, other times they have a negative
influence on our wellbeing. Let me give some examples.
A positive example is when a student spends one
more hour studying because her (close) colleagues study 5 hours and not 4 each
day. The student might simply imitate the “study group” behavior without any
awareness, or might consciously decide that she doesn’t want to look less
worthy and she spends an extra hour of studying not to fall behind the group.
At the other end
of the continuum the same mechanism of following the group and or not wanting
to look less worthy can make someone drink alcohol to the level of entering a
coma.
To sum up, it is human
nature to need to belong to a social group. The origins of this need are embedded
in our evolutionary past. Conforming to a group’s norms can be done with or
without awareness. Under awareness one simply imitates the behavior of others,
while in the awareness condition, one wants to impress or not fall behind the
group. The same conformity mechanisms can have both positive and negative
influences on our own wellbeing.
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