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Assignment 1: Applying Social Psychology Theories to Explain Behavior
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Assignment 1: Applying Social Psychology Theories to Explain Behavior
The social media scenario talks about a 19-years old male who was raped at a party and is
afraid that his pictures could be posted online by perpetrators. As a result, he is suicide from
three comments which illustrates three types of behaviors.
I. Conformity behavior was demonstrated from the comment of a small group of
individuals who were profanity and belittling him. They were encouraging him to
commit suicide.
II. Obedient Behavior was seen by a large group of individuals giving him supportive
comments and providing a crisis helpline for further assistance.
III. Bystander behavior was witnessed by the online followers who were not responding
to the post and assumed everything had been handled (Darley & Latané, 1968).
In most of society, the issue of male rape is highly ignored. Figures of male rapes at the
police are few and misleading. Reports of male rapes are belittled and treated differently
compared to female rape. Men are reported to be more hostile, angered, and depressed than
women. This is because of masculinity which makes them undergo a lot of conformity behaviors.
Besides, obedience behavior could help the male deal with the trauma rape. He could
obey the supportive comments from the controlled response to minimize denial and assaults.
After a rape case, most victims always feel the urge of increased vulnerabilities, feelings of
shame, and destructive perceptions as they believe they did something wrong that triggered the
action. However, they need to obey the guidance to overcome the trauma.
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To completely overcome the negative that results from the rape case, helping behaviors
help them to avoid trauma and self-blame. Helping behavior also provides encouragement and
mental support while giving a response for positivity.
Conformity Response
I. Conformity behavior: groups have pressure for uniformity, especially when each
group has an explicit goal. From the rape case scenario, the group's goal was to shame
the 19 years old from the incident. Besides, they were making him feel responsible.
To point out, the group's action could be attributed to the assumption that male rape is
due to heterosexual males and famine behaviors (Bussey & Bandura, 1984). Thus, an
attempt to make him feel less of a man.
II. Obedient Behavior: from the rape case, obedient is not a subject. There is a group that
is trying to hurt the feelings of the young man. They are not offering help to deal
away with depression and anxiety but instead promoting suicide. To be obedient
means that one is supportive. For the large to be supportive, they could not have
blamed the young man, which shows a lack of obedient Behavior.
III. Bystander effect: this group assumed that some had already attended the emergency
and couldcould just stay away to watch the events unfold (Hock, 2020; Darley &
Latané, 1968). The social media group assumes that everything responsible has
already been done, or they feel more embarrassed to get involved.
Personal Response
My response to the man is that the rape incident was not his fault. It was an accident, and
people have different opinions on how they view the societies. Some people choose to belittle
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others and others that seek to encourage others. I wish that everyone could listen without being
judgmental to promote the mental and physical well-being of others.
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References
Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1984). Influence of gender constancy and social power on sex-linked
modeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(6), 1292–1302.
Chapter 10, “Social Psychology”Reading 10.1: "A Prison by Any Other Name"
Chapter 3, "Learning and Conditioning"Reading 3.4: "See Aggression…Dog Aggression!"
Darley, J.M. & Latané, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of
responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8(4), 377-383.
Document: Psychology Theories Template (Excel Spreadsheet)
Hock, R. R. (2020). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of
Psychological research (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Hoorens, V. & Poortinga, Y. (2000). Behavior in the social context. In K. Pawlik & M.
Rosenzweig The international handbook of psychology (pp. 40-53). London: SAGE
Publications Ltd. Doi: 10.4135/9781848608399.n3
Reading 10.2: "The Power of Conformity"
Reading 10.3: "To Help or Not to Help"
Reading 10.4: "Obey at Any Cost?"
