The Five Big Ideas

Words: 518
Pages: 3

The Diviners by Margaret Laurence consists of examples of the five big ideas of a social behaviour analysis: social norms, the need to belong, personal perspective differences, the need for consistency and mental shortcuts otherwise known as heuristics. Morag Gunn, the protagonist, demonstrates all five big ideas starting with the social norms theory. Social norms are the rules of behaviour that are considered acceptable in a society (McLeod, 2008) which Morag demonstrates when she first begins class in Manawaka when talking back to the teacher is considered unacceptable behaviour of a student where they receive physical punishment for breaking the social norm. Morag demonstrates the need to belong when she sees the other girls in their clothing with their short, patterned dresses whereas her own long, bleak dress and decides when she can afford to, to look exactly like those other girls so she can fit in and belong. Personal perspective differences theory has numerous aspects but Morag experiences two of these aspects evidently throughout the book. The first aspect being the spotlight effect where she thinks everyone in town watches her whenever she is walking about town …show more content…
Morag used mental shortcuts throughout her everyday life such as when she and her husband would start to argue consistently about the same few issues and since she wanted to keep him happy, she would quickly diffuse the situation by agreeing with him and conceding. This becomes a mental shortcut for her because she does so subconsciously as it became routine for her and she does not realize she forfeits until after the argument finishes. Morag unmistakably displays the five big ideas of the social behaviour analysis throughout The Diviners and her life story involves various events that most people go through in their lifetime and displays ways to cope with common