Task 2 Flashcards
Social Influence
any process whereby a person’s attitudes, opinions, beliefs, or behaviour are affected by others
- includes conformity, compliance, group polarisation, minority social influence, peer pressure, obedience, persuasion, and the influence of social norms
- ranges from explicit to implicit
3 Types:
1. structural: quantity & quality of your social ties
2. functional: emotional, instrumental (financial), or informational support
3. normative: social norms provide a context in which individuals make decisions about their behaviour
Structural Social Influence (on health work)
- generally more friends: better mental & physical health
- amount of social group membership, the larger buffer against pain
- but also satisfaction from social interactions related to self-reported health
Functional Social Influence (on health work)
- social connection influences via lifestyle choices, psychological mechanisms & medical adherence
Normative Social Influence (on health work)
- normative & behavioural guidance through comparisons with others (similarity & closeness)
- usually via peers
Umberson (2010): influences via meaning of life, social norms (descriptive & injunctive) and control
Social ties
social ties influence our (health) behaviour through norms
- multiple layers (e.g. friendship, family, membership in sports etc.)
Social Ties & health
- social relationships directly (positively) affect out physical 6 mental health
- act as buffer against stress (thereby indirectly affect health)
- health is improved by informal social networks, social activities, participation in organisation
Social Ties & psychology
social networks can provide - - - social support
- self-esteem
- identity
- perception of control
Levels of closeness
Primary group: significant others
- persons to whom er are emotionally tied & whom we view as important or influential
- e.g. souse, family, close friends
Secondary Group
- larger groups, more formal
- rules regulations, hierarchy
- less personal knowledge about other members
- voluntarily chosen individuals: similar others
- e.g. fellow students, colleagues, sports teams
Quality & quantity (Social Ties)
both are positively & causally related to physical & mental health
- research shoed, the larger one’s social network for friends, family, club etc. the better one’s mental health
- satisfaction derived from interaction with friends (i.e. quality of interaction) positively related to self-reported health
- married individuals live longer (esp men benefit from being married)
Social Isolation & Loneliness
harmful for one’s health
- loneliness was found to double the risk of developing alzeimers
Mechanisms by which Social Relationships influence our health
- social facilitation - implicit
- modeling - implicit, some extent
- impression management - explicit
- norms - explicit
Social Facilitation
improvement in individual performance when working with other people rather than alone
- the mere presence of others does the trick
- influence us largely outside awareness
- e.g. children eat more & faster in larger compared to smaller groups (healthy & unhealthy snacks)
- social facilitation doesn’t seem to occur when in company of strangers (may only hold for overweight individuals)
- quality of one’s peer relationship also matter
> perceived support from fam. facilitates exercise, bullying criticism from peers reduces
Social Facilitation & risk taking
- susceptibility to social facilitation effects, particularly among males (often aren’t aware that they take risks)
- demonstrations if in-group characteristics, like risk-taking, may bolster self-esteem by winning admiration and praise from peers
- presence of male passenger in car doubles death rate der 1000 car crashes
Modeling
individuals form beliefs & attitudes about the behaviours they see in others, which in turn shapes their own behaviour
- includes behavioural mimicry
- more direct/explicit form of influence on our behaviour than facilitation
- starts early in childhood
peers have influence on our levels of physical activity through modelling & socialisation processes
- given the prong influence of peers on behaviour, peer education is used more and more asa form of health education/health promotion
Impression Management
wanting to convey a certain image of yourself to the outside world
- is natural behaviour but can be bad for your health
- attempts to consciously or unconsciously control impressions other form of us
How
- by regulation information we provide to them
- by strategic self-presentations
- it also inhibits healthy behaviour or even promotes unhealthy behaviour
(not wanted to be seen buying condoms)
e.g. occasional smoking used as impression management
- not wanting to appear as regular smoker while feeling immune to health risks of smoking
- pretending to have perfect life & show that to others
- peers provide normative contexts (college hazing)
Norms
Descriptive: what I think others do
Injunctive: what I think others will approve or disapprove of me doing
subjective: what I think significant others expect me to do
ppl obtain normative & behavioural guidance through comparison with others
- who are similar to us
- who are close to us
Norms & social influence & health
depending on which group or individuals are considered important to an individual, and which (health) norms are salient in that group
- such social influence can be demanding or encouraging for one’s health behaviour
Thomas Theorem (Norms)
if a person perceives norm as real, then its consequences fir the person are real
Norms & Misperceptions
often we have misperceptions about other pals attitudes (peer injunctive norms) or their behaviour (peer descriptive norms), which in turn influence our own behaviours
Peer influence vs peer pressure
Peer influence:
- ability to influence individual behaviour among members of a group based on group norms
- groups send of that is the right thing or way to do things, and the need to be valued and accepted by the group
Peer pressure:
- really want to be accepted
- high normative social influence
–> feels like pressure, otherwise feels like will be outsider
Social Determinants of Health (SDH)
the conditions in which ppl are born, grow, work, live, age and the wider set of forces & systems shaping the conditions of daily life
- these forces & systems include economic policies, systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies, political systems
they lead to:
- unstable housing, low income, unsafe neighbourhoods, substandard education
- creates inequities between (groups of) individuals
10 SDH according to WHO
- social gradient (lower SES also lower health)
- stress
- early life (stress, parents, environment)
- social exclusion
- work
- unemployment
- social support
- addiction
- food
- transport
other determinants
- segregation
- social surroundings
- social inequality
- stigmatised reputation of area/people (isolation, restriction of info floe between residents & block development of trust & culture)
- individual (parental steps, child stress mental emotional, behavioural)
- relational (parental investment)
- institutional (schools, neighbourhood conditions, work of parents, stability
Mediators between structural determinants of health & impact on equity in health
- social cohesion & social capital
- behaviour & biological factors
- psychosocial factors
Starting Points for interventions
changing the influence on these determinants, and ultimately reducing the inequalities/inequities requires structural solutions
E.g:
- provide basic income
- provide good infrastructure
- provide education for all children & adults
- provide accessible healthcare
- dual pay for both genders
BUT changing the influence of social determinants can also happen by focusing on the intermediate factors
- reserve capacity model
- focus on individual’s psychological & social strengths (hope, self-efficacy, optimism)
structural changes in society are necessary
- psychologist can help with interventions focusing on more intermediary determinants of health