Human interactions and behaviours are shaped by many social influences that are not limited to just culture, or society in general. The first forms of social influences are encountered at birth and continue throughout an individual’s lifetime. Throughout life, these social influences also play a role in helping shape his or her personality and other forms of behaviour. Naturally, humans are continuously evolving and constantly changing, growing and developing. In the same way, an individual’s schemas, values, morals, and attitudes are influenced and evolving with the assistance of social influences.
Human’s like reptiles have the ability to change and behave in certain ways at different times and different places because social influences can alter and shape actions, speech, and much more. For example, an individual’s persona in the workplace is one way and another way at home. In each environment, social influences trigger various behaviours acceptable to that environment. Evolutionarily, humans have evolved into social creatures and in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, various forms of social interactions are required.
Isolating or total confinement not only is a cruel form of punishment, but a limiting factor in developing appropriate behaviours. Without social influences, humans would not be able to develop a sense of appropriate behaviours nor would they be able to read social cues. It is fairly evident that social influences shape our behaviour and we can further exemplify it by looking at the human deprivation “experiment” in Romanian orphanages. The cruel and inhumane actions of a Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, favoured polices to raise the birth rate and established institutions for orphans and children whose parents could not care for them.
The Term Paper on Social influences on human behaviour
... prejudice, attitudes can lead our thoughts and actions. Social influences can affect human behaviour by changing our attitudes. This can be a ... move toward adulthood, these influences may loosen or change, but it is our families that shape our behaviours and actions from ... an individual may need some form of therapeutic intervention. The extent to which people are influenced depends on their level ...
Babies who were abandoned or given up to the state by their parents, all suffered drastically in these Romanian orphanages. These babies were deprived of the basic necessities that most of us often take for granted. They were isolated, abused, abandoned, neglected and deprived of all forms of social contact. The brutality within these orphanages had severe consequences on orphans who were raised in such harsh conditions. Those who were adopted after the fall of Ceausescu all displayed similar behaviour.
They rocked back and forth, showed a limited capacity to move and speak and had difficulty giving and receiving affection. They had no idea on how to react to any form of interaction. The longer they were in these orphanages the more drastic these behaviours got. Although this is an extreme example, it still gives insight on how social influences shape our behaviour. For most individuals who have not grown up in a Romanian orphanage, families often provide the closest social influences and it is their families who help shape their behaviours and actions from the start.
