Critical Comparison of Social Dimensions - Case Study Example

Critical Comparisons Paper Outline Critical Comparisons I. Introduction a) Introduce Sharon’s background information in terms of age, gender, period of friendship and community roles. b) Thesis: based on the four social dimensions, Sharon and I exhibit similar character traits to a certain extent where we cease to be similar. II. Attitude and belief systems a) I have a positive attitude towards marriage, but no committed to religion b) Sharon despises marriage life and she is fully committed to Christianity III. Interpersonal relationships a) I develop and maintain good international relationships even with strangers b) Sharon only trusts close friends and acquires friends through transitivity IV. Gender issues a) I do not commit myself to providing for gender issues in my endeavors because I am chauvinistic b) Sharon is gender sensitive and ensures participation and gender representation in all her activities V. Social communication a) I am not an excellent social communicator because I am a stammerer b) Sharon tries to communicate fluently, but her speeches are affected by accent. VI. Conclusion Similarities and differences that characterize human beings can be explained using the four social dimensions based on theories of social behavior. Introduction Sharon and I share a variety of characters traits, yet we are slightly different in several aspects. We became friends two years ago when Sharon’s family moved to the apartment in the neighborhood. Sharon celebrated her 26th birthday on March 22, 2014. Her family belongs to the middle social class, but she has undergone periods of intense stress due to family issues, particularly occasional separations by her parents. Being the firstborn in the family, Sharon has the responsibility of taking care of her younger brother aged fifteen especially when the mother is away for cross-border businesses. Sharon is also the local church secretary, the treasurer of the local youth group and a volunteer teacher in Priskin Kindergarten School. I did a critical evaluation of myself against Sharon based on theories of social behavior. I realized that our social behaviors concur to some extent beyond which we cease to exhibit similarity. I based my critical comparison on the four social dimensions, which are attitude and belief systems, interpersonal relationships, gender issues, and social communication. Attitude and Belief Systems The best theory that explains attitudes and belief systems is the social perception theory. The theory proposes that people observe themselves in the same manner that they observe others and draw conclusions about their likes and dislikes based on other people’s behaviors (Spencer, 2003). Social justification theory argues that human beings are usually motivated to bolster and defend the status quo. The proponents of this theory posit that the intention of human beings it to maintain the belief that their social, economic and political systems are justified and legitimate (Forst & Flynn, 2012). I have a positive attitude towards family and marriage. I have lived in grown up in an organized family characterized by happiness, prosperity, and mutual concern. I also wish to establish my family and maintain its stability to achieve similar standards as that of ours. Through observational learning, I have acquired and imitated desirable principles that are vital for bringing up a happy family. I believe that it is through evolutionary psychology that I inherited behavioral tendencies that enable me to develop a model of my successful family. I do not have much commitment to religion since my parents have never shown interest in the church. I think I am skewed towards the social justification theory, which motivates me towards defending and bolstering my family’s status quo. My objective is to adhere to the family’s social, religious, and economic systems since I believe that they are just and legitimate. Sharon feels that family life is the most stressful commitment that she can ever establish. She has developed a permanent negative attitude towards marriage and family life since she has never enjoyed a stable family life. Her attitude can be explained by the social perception theory; Sharon could be suffering from over-justification effect, as she thinks that the same family wrangles will befall her own family. Sharon, however, is a strict Christian who never misses a mass service. I think it is because of the frustration that makes her to seek refuge in the church. Interpersonal Relationships The social ecological model focuses on understanding behavior in relation to the environment. The model was developed to close the gap between theories of behavior that focused on small settings and anthropological models that analyze extensive settings. The social ecological model has provided a background throughout my life by helping me to understand factors that affect behavior and providing guidance for developing successful friendships through social environments. The theory of social penetration posits that interpersonal communication expands as relationships develop (West & Turner, 2010). This leads to development of deeper and intimate relationships. Another theory used to explain interpersonal relationships is the attachment theory. Proponents of the attachment theory argue that long-term relationships develop through connectedness that existsbetween human beings. People who are well attached treat others fairy than those who are not. I believe that Irwin Altman’s social penetration theory has been a living example to me as it provides a comprehensive explanation of the closeness that exists between me and other people. I have excellent interpersonal relationships both at home, school and work. I strive to build and maintain beneficial relationships with people around me since I received excellent attachment when I was a child. Regardless of the dynamism nature of interpersonal relationships, I have been able to maintain friendships and acquired more friends through transitivity. I belief that I posses excellent interpersonal skills such as verbal communication, assertiveness, decision-making, listening skills, non-verbal communication, negotiation and problem solving. Sharon is also excellent in building and maintaining interpersonal relationships. However, Sharon is highly selective in the types of people with whom she develops interpersonal relationships. She fears getting along with strangers, implying that she acquires friends through transitivity only; this might have been caused by lack of attachment when Sharon was a child. Transitivity means that she can only trust the close friends of her close friends (Brandt & García, 2010). Sharon has actually lost trust in strangers especially men because she associates them with the cruel actions of her father. The only interpersonal skills that characterize Sharon include listening, problem solving, verbal communication, and nonverbal communication. Sharon has shunned assertiveness since she cannot freely communicate values, ideas, need, beliefs and opinions. I think she does not know whether her ideas, beliefs, and opinions are correct. The fact that she originates from an unstable family loses her self-concept; the self-concept theory concentrates on the communication ability of a person based on confidence and self-esteem (MacKinnon & Heise, 2010). Gender Issues According to the social comparison theory, people acquire information about themselves and make conclusions by making comparisons with others (Suls & Wheeler, 2000). Erikson’s psychosocial development theory focuses on ego identity. Ego identity refers to the conscious of sense that people develop through social interactions (MacKinnon & Heise, 2010). Psychologists focus on beliefs, ideas, opinions, values and attitudes when they discuss ego identity. People’s personal identity affords them an integrated and cohesive sense of self that ensure and continue to grow as they age. The social construction theory argues that gender is not an inevitable result of biology, as it is currently understood, but it is highly contingent upon historical and social processes (MacKinnon & Heise, 2010). Gender issues such as equity, participatory leadership, and discrimination are not very significant to me. I sometimes think that I am chauvinistic; this is perhaps the reasons for lack of concern for gender-based issues. I have grown up in a family where the father is the final decision-maker; I believe that the social comparison theory is relevant in this case. I have observed my father making decisions on matters affecting the family regardless of other family members’ oppositions and forcing those decisions to be implemented. I tend to believe that this is one of the reasons why our family has never fallen into intense problems. Therefore, I believe that considering gender issues in all activities may constitute a waste of time for important matters. This could be due to ego identity that I have developed during my growth process. Sharon is gender sensitive in all her actions. She always ensures that both male and female parties have a chance to control situations. Her speeches during religious gatherings are filled with gender equity, participatory leadership, and presentation for both genders, and avoidance of discrimination based on gender. I think the reason for this behavior could be the consequences of gender neglect she has observed in her family; Sharon believes that her mother is a victim of gender inequality and discrimination that spurs violence in her family. Sharon views gender gaps as the primary causes of suffering that women undergo in the face of men. Sharon believes in the social construction theory, which posits that gender is constructed through historical and social processes. Social Communication According to the theory of evolutionary psychology, human behaviors are partly inherited and have been influenced by natural selection (Linquist & Levy, 2010). Specific behavioral genes can be transmitted from parents to offsprings, leading to offsprings portraying similar characteristics to those of parents. The proponents of the Drive Theory argue that the presence various types of audience cause different arousals; this creates dominant or typical responses depending on the context of the situation (Griffin, 2006). Albert Bandura developed the concept of self-efficacy, which focuses on ways of perceiving situations and behaviors in response to various situations. Self-efficacy constitutes the believe in a person’s capabilities to organize and implement actions required to manage both present and prospective situations (MacKinnon & Heise, 2010). According to the schemata theory, cognitive structures organize knowledge and guide information processing from the environment. I am not very good at social communication since I am slightly a stammerer. I think I inherited this characteristic from my grandfather who also suffered the same condition. When I cannot communicate verbally, I usually resort to nonverbal communication such as gestures, tonal variation, and facial expressions to pass the message. I am good listener and in all my communication endeavors, but this keenness depends on the communicating parties. When communicating with seniors, I listen more carefully and seek clarification in their messages than when communicating to my age mates. I have developed self-efficacy and self-esteem since I do not shy in any situations. I always believe in my potential of passing messages properly. Sharon tries to be fluent in social communication, but she is affected by accent. Her pronunciations are confusing, and are worsened by her tendencies of speaking at high speeds. I think Sharon’s problem of accent originates from the schools that she attended during her early years. During her early ages, Sharon’s teachers might have been using a language that was filled with accent, which was permanently acquired by Sharon before she could know the exact pronunciations; this situation can be explained by the schemata theory. Sharon also gives too much information during her social conversations. She also has self-efficacy as she beliefs in her capability to handle various situations successfully. Conclusion Similarities and differences that characterize human beings can be explained using theories of social behavior. Sharon and I exhibit a variety of differences when critically compared against the four social dimensions. While I have a positive attitude towards family and marriage, Sharon seems to have developed a dislike for such unions. Sharon and I have excellent interpersonal skills; however, Sharon lacks the social skill of assertiveness. Sharon concentrates on gender issues while I do not find any significance in such issues. Sharon and I are both fair in social communication; however, I am affected by stammer while Sharon’s speeches are influenced by accent. References Brandt, P., & García, M. G. (2010). Transitivity: Form, meaning, acquisition, and processing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co. Forst, R., & Flynn, J. (2012). The right to justification: Elements of a constructivist theory of justice. New York: Columbia University Press. Griffin, E. (2006). A first look at communication theory (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Linquist, S. P., & Levy, N. (2010). Evolutionary psychology. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. MacKinnon, N. J., & Heise, D. R. (2010). Self, identity, and social institutions. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Spencer, S. (2003). Motivated social perception. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Suls, J., & Wheeler, L. (2000). Handbook of social comparison: Theory and research. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publ. West, R. L., & Turner, L. H. (2010). Introducing communication theory: Analysis and application. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Read More