Social Psychology Essay

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Social Psychology In the study of psychology, people are examined and tested on to determine why they do the things that they do. Sarah is a 15-year-old sophomore in high school. She is a well-behaved girl with good grades and takes mostly honor’s classes. As the school year begins, Sarah makes new friends and is looking forward to spending time with them on their first night going out together. As always, Sarah is aware of her curfew and has never broken it before. As the night comes to an end, Sarah’s friends decide to take her to her first party. Knowing she should be home, obeying curfew, she still goes and has great time. She meets a guy from her school named Jack who is a junior and lives in the same neighborhood as her. They find that they have the same likes in music and share some hobbies. Jack finds Sarah to be beautiful and asks her on a date for the following week. While everyone is having a great time, they hear two guys arguing in front of the house. Most people run outside to see why the boys were yelling but the yelling then turned into a physical fight. After the fight many people decided to go home including Sarah and her friends. Why did Sarah’s attitude towards her curfew change? How did others influence her behaviors throughout the night? Why was Jack interested in Sarah and how did the fight between the boys affect others at the party? Psychology will always have the answers to why people react how they do in certain situations and why they think the way they think. A person’s behavior can be influenced by a number of things in their daily surroundings. Sarah displayed cognitive dissonance in several ways. The discomfort experience from holding two or more ideas that oppose one another hit Sarah twice. When her curfew came to an end she knew she needed to be home, obeying her curfew but she also wanted to go to that party. She was worried about getting caught but still went and had fun. Psychology would explain that Sarah conformed to her peers’ beliefs. Her friends were going to go to this party and she wanted her friends to keep inviting her out. Sarah conformed to her peers’ beliefs because she wanted to fit in. She didn’t want to be left out on their next going out night. This is when Sarah’s attitude towards her curfew changed. The need to conform was due social pressures and norms. Her friends kept telling her how much fun the party would be and how she’d be missing out if she didn’t go. Her desire for belonging contributed in her attitude towards her curfew. She’d rather fit in with her friends than to obey her curfew. Psychology may seem difficult to understand but it always seems to be right. The factors of attraction tell how one is attracted to others with the similar likes, physical attractiveness, and people who are component. One of the factors in attraction is Similarity. People tend to gravitate to those who are like themselves. Jack noticed that him and Sarah shared the same likes in music. They
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