Question

essay abou the group thinking

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Group thinking is generally when being a member of a group has influenced one’s opinion or thought process. Depending on the type of influence, the stage of life and even the opinion, there can be several theories and categories of group thinking.

Basically, all of these theories attempt to understand how the social environment that an individual is exposed to, would contribute towards their understanding, ideas and opinions. These influences begin when one might be a child.

Bronfenbrenner explained that everything in a child’s environment is likely to affect how they grow and develop. He went on to explain that a child’s inherent qualities affect the social environment and vice-versa.

Bronfenbrenner’s biological model is in the form of concentric circles or levels that influence a child.

The first level – The Microsystem which is the child itself.

The second level – The Mesosystem which comprise of the family, school, playground, peers, religious institutions and healthcare systems.

The third level – The Ecosystem which contains the extended family, neighbours, friends of family, legal services, social welfare services and the mass media.

The fourth level – The Macrosystem is formed by the attitudes and ideologies of the society.

The fifth level – The Chronosystem is formed by all of the events and transitions that occur within a child’s life.

The purpose of these levels is to prove that socialisation has a massive impact on an individual’s thinking. Just as introspect and personal understanding, societal influencers are what truly enforce group thinking. Socialisation is a reciprocal process simply because elements are able to influence each other. In other words, socialisation is not a one-sided process but rather a give and take or a learning and teaching process. Socialisation is also dynamic because it is constantly evolving and since the birth of an individual and the birth of a society. Socialisation is never static or stagnating.

Since this process is constant and ever-changing based on individual and societal contributions, socialisation also teaches a child to cope and adapt to changes in the modern era through constant learning and teaching.

If one were to analyse the terrible issue of racism, it is evident that it is more of a group mentality than an individual issue. Since racism is not an individual problem, it would be essential to look at it as a ‘group-behaviour’. Social conformity is what influences group behaviour. Since no child is born a racist, one can say with absolution that racism is ingrained as an individual grows up in society. In such a case, “Normative Social Influence”, NSI theory can be applied. This is when an individual is influenced by other people to act a certain way in order to fit in. By applying this political psychology theory, we are able to better understand the origins of racism.

Another theory of group thinking is the “bystander effect.” For instance, a person in a stadium begins to cheer for his team. Other spectators who see this person wearing the colours of the same team would also begin to cheer spontaneously. This is when they copy behaviour because they are in a situation where no particular reference is given to thought, but rather to picking up on social cues and conforming to acceptable behaviour.

It can be surmised that not all individuals are easily influenced by group thinking. There are individuals who prefer standing out and even disagreeing with groups. Adherence towards group thinking depends upon the individual’s temperament and the situation in question.