Our socially constructed reality

Think Piece Sociological Significance and Individual Behavior What is the relationship between "definition of the situation" and "socially - constructed reality'? Our social construct provides us with basic assumptions of everyday life. These social influences have an affect on our perception of reality and situations. While with a group of people you mainly hang out with the definition of a situation of a situation will be similar, because you all are from the same social group: and have similar social backgrounds.

But if you are not with a group that you are not familiar tit it may not be so easy for you all to see the situation the same because your social reality are different. Example: In an urban neighborhood where Tim, and his group of friends hangout during the day and night, they often hear gunshots. So one night Time's cousin Johnny came to visit from his mansion in Texas. While they were outside hanging out gunshots were heard. After hearing the gunshots Tim and his friends continued as if they heard nothing.

Sonny's reaction was very different than Tim and his friends in fact he felt very uncomfortable. Because Tim and his group of friends are accustomed to that social structure their interpretation of the situation was different than Johnny, because in his social reality that doesn't and should not happen. This example explains how a persons social reality can change how they interpret the definition of a situation. Why are these important in explaining the social influences on human behavior?

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These are important in explaining human behavior because our chosen behavior is determined by our social influences and social surroundings (socially - constructed reality) which determine how we react and interpret situations (definition of a situation). Why is it that social influence is very often more useful for predicting - or explaining - the behavior of an individual person than would be there psychological frame of mind? Though we take part in the social construct of reality, it's still not entirely a product of our own doing.

Our social influences make us who we are and affect how we act and handle situations. Even though we have our own thought we still live our lives through what is socially acceptable. So observing a psychological frame of mind may not be as accurate because we say one thing, but in a social setting we handle it differently. Example: Elevator Video The people on the elevator knew that it was not their norm to turn backwards in the elevator.

But they still wanted to conform to what seemed socially normal at the time, so they turned around Just like everyone else in the video. So even though we have our own thoughts and feelings about situations , our social influence and social setting still determine how we behave. If anyone could have asked the independent variables on the elevator if they would turn backwards on an elevator if everyone else was doing it they would have more than likely answered no, but because o the social pressure to conform they behaved totally opposite.

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