When organizations turn a blind eye to sexual harassment in the workplace, how many people need to take a stand before the behavior is no longer seen as normal? According to a new paper published in Science, there is a quantifiable answer: Roughly 25% of people need to take a stand before large-scale social change occurs. This idea of a social tipping point applies to standards in the workplace and any type of movement or initiative. Online, people develop norms about everything from what type of content is acceptable to post on social media, to how civil or uncivil to be in their language. We have recently seen how public attitudes can and do shift on issues like gay marriage, gun laws, or race and gender equality, as well as what beliefs are or aren't publicly acceptable to voice. During the past 50 years, many studies of organizations and community change have attempted to identify the critical size needed for a tipping point, purely based on observation. These studies have speculated that tipping points can range anywhere between 10 and 40%. The problem for scientists has been that real-world social dynamics are complicated, and it isn't possible to replay history in precisely the same way to accurately measure how outcomes would have been different if an activist group had been larger or smaller. "What we were able to do in this study was to develop a theoretical model that would predict the size of the critical mass needed to shift group norms, and then test it experimentally," says lead author Damon Centola, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Drawing on more than a decade of experimental work, Centola has developed an online method to test how large-scale social dynamics can be changed. In this study, "Experimental Evidence for Tipping Points in Social Convention," co-authored by Joshua Becker, Ph.D., Devon Brackbill, Ph.D., and Andrea Baronchelli, Ph.D., 10 groups of 20 participants each were given a financial incentive to agree on a linguistic norm. Once a norm had been established, a group of confederates -- a coalition of activists that varied in size -- then pushed for a change to the norm. When a minority group pushing change was below 25% of the total group, its efforts failed. But when the committed minority reached 25%, there was an abrupt change in the group dynamic, and very quickly the majority of the population adopted the new norm. In one trial, a single person accounted for the difference between success and failure. The researchers also tested the strength of their results by increasing the payments people got for adhering to the prevailing norm. Despite doubling and tripling the amount of money for sticking with the established behavior, Centola and his colleagues found that a minority group could still overturn the group norm. "When a community is close to a tipping point to cause large-scale social change, there's no way they would know this," says Centola, who directs the Network Dynamics Group at the Annenberg School. "And if they're just below a tipping point, their efforts will fail. But remarkably, just by adding one more person, and getting above the 25% tipping point, their efforts can have rapid success in changing the entire population's opinion." Acknowledging that real-life situations can be much more complicated, the authors' model allows for the exact 25% tipping point number to change based on circumstances. Memory length is a key variable, and relates to how entrenched a belief or behavior is. For example, someone whose beliefs are based on hundreds of past interactions may be less influenced by one change agent, whereas someone who considers only their more recent interactions would be more easily swayed. "Our findings present a stark contrast to centuries of thinking about social change in classical economics, in which economists typically think a majority of activists is needed to change a population's norms," says Centola. "The classical model, called equilibrium stability analysis, would dictate that 51% or more is needed to initiate real social change. We found, both theoretically and experimentally, that a much smaller fraction of the population can effectively do this." Centola believes environments can be engineered to push people in pro-social directions, particularly in contexts such as in organizations, where people's personal rewards are tied directly to their ability to coordinate on behaviors that their peers will find acceptable. Centola also suggests that this work has direct implications for political activism on the Internet, offering new insight into how the Chinese government's use of pro-government propaganda on social networks like Weibo, for example, can effectively shift conversational norms away from negative stories that might foment social unrest. While shifting people's underlying beliefs can be challenging, Centola's results offer new evidence that a committed minority can change what behaviors are seen as socially acceptable, potentially leading to pro-social outcomes like reduced energy consumption, less sexual harassment in the workplace, and improved exercise habits. Conversely, it can also prompt large-scale anti-social behaviors such as internet trolling, internet bullying, and public outbursts of racism. The implications for large-scale behavior change are also the subject of Centola's new book, How Behavior Spreads, published this month by Princeton University Press.

Consumer Psychology

by Aman Kumar Singh

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3237 Views 5 years ago

One fine evening, I was sitting on the rooftop cherishing solitude. I was feeling the cool breeze  kissing me. Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind and I went beside myself ruminating the times when I wanted something badly. So badly that I would have done anything and everything just to get that. And I realised every time I fulfil my wishes, my mood swings completely and I no longer cherish the things I get as much as I used to, earlier. It’s like I am insatiable. I never feel satisfied and start looking for other fishes in the sea. Consequently, I never feel happiness within. There persists a sense of perpetual emptiness in my heart. I keep tormenting myself thinking- “if I had this, my life would be perfect; if I had that, my life would be perfect”. There is no end to such absurdness and hence no peace within.  That day, I couldn’t resist harping on myself  questioning- Why enough is never enough ? Why do the objects of desire lose their sheen with time ? what’s the sense of such a life when you have everything yet no peace within ? These question sent shockwaves into my heart. I felt as though I was a wretch who had everything yet nothing for, I couldn’t recall even a single thing that makes me happy all the time. All of my life, I had been chasing the pleasures which were good from far but far from good. Nothing could really tame my restless soul. Really, the biggest irony of the life is: To all of us, the material things are more endearing than the dear ones. There is nothing wrong in pursuing happiness but what’s wrong is our means. We resort to material things to extract happiness but the fact is: sooner or later, all they can extract is sheer pain. We are looking for instant pleasure but that brings with it the lasting pain but it gets too late when we realise it. It was for the first time in my life that I realised that the essence of life lies in cherishing what we have instead of grieving for what we don’t, because this is the only way to find happiness within and around us. I heard people talking about this thing myriad times but never ever felt it in a heartfelt way. May be because I’m too much into rat race to be able to find any moments of solitude to introspect. But since that day onwards, I extractsuch moments of solitude and realising that indeed, solitude is bliss. A few minutes of self talk and a heartfelt gratitude at the end of the day is more than enough to keep me bonded with myself. I have been doing this for sometime now and I feel the quality of my life is enhancing profoundly. Do you also find yourself in the same boat ? If yes, do introspect and realise what’s actually worth running after. This may change your way of looking at life. Signing off is NIKHIL JAIN !!!! Have a great time ahead !!!! For more articles, visit www.nikhiljainsblog.wordpress.com

Counseling Psychology

by Nikhil Jain

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3204 Views 5 years ago

Are people with more money and education dominating and less warm? A social-psychological study at Goethe University scrutinizes stereotypes. How is our behavior influenced by our social class? Sociology has long concerned itself with this question. Whether individuals grow up in a working-class environment or in an academic household, they take on behaviors that are typical for their class -- so goes the hypothesis. The Frankfurt social-psychologist Dr. Anna Lisa Aydin has found new evidence to support this hypothesis. Her study, which she carried out jointly with researchers from Zurich, Hagen, Idaho and Tel Aviv, and which has been published in the scientific journal Social Psychological and Personality Science also shows, however, that people don't just rigidly exhibit class-specific behavior, but respond flexibly to counterparts from other social classes. A large portion of the research on the influence of social class stems from the ideas of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. He describes how the environment in which we grow up inscribes itself deeply into our identity. Social-psychological authors argue that people from lower social classes have access to fewer resources and can only influence their environment to a limited degree. They therefore rely more on mutual assistance, making solidarity an important value. People identify with this value and behave cooperatively as a result. People from upper social classes, on the other hand, have access to more resources, can choose from among several alternatives, and are less dependent on mutual assistance. This results in individualistic conceptions of the self where shaping the environment according to one's own preferences is paramount. These different modes of behavior therefore constitute adaptions to corresponding social environments. This theory was supported in part by the current study. Overall, more than 2,000 people in Germany were surveyed. For respondents who considered themselves to be members of a lower class, warm and cooperative interaction with other people in their social class was more important than for those who considered themselves members of a higher social class. In addition, those who earned more and were better educated set more value on demonstrating competence and being assertive in their interactions with others than those in the group with lower earnings and less education. The authors feared that these differences in behavior could lead to a further increase in social inequality in Germany. Individuals who exhibit assertiveness have better chances for social advancement. However, the observed differences in behavior were relatively small. The influence of the social class of the individual's counterpart had a significantly greater impact. How do people behave when interacting with someone from a lower or higher social group? The majority of those surveyed described social difference in Germany as unjustified or not very justified. As a result, they found it important to behave warmly and cooperatively toward people with less money and education. Conversely, they set value on appearing competent and assertive toward people with more money and education. These findings are particularly relevant in view of the fact that social inequality is increasing in Germany and other parts of the world, although most people perceive this as unjustified. While research based on sociological theories can explain how this inequality can be exacerbated by conditioning within different social classes, the current study offers an optimistic perspective: in communication situations between people of different classes where class differences are perceived as illegitimate, solidarity with the poor and assertiveness toward the rich are exhibited.

Social Psychology

by Aman Kumar Singh

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3182 Views 5 years ago

A majority of young adults with severe mental illness -- bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or major depression -- consider religion and spirituality relevant to their mental health, according to a new study from Baylor University's Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. Holly Oxhandler, Ph.D., associate dean for research and faculty development in the Garland School of Social Work, served as lead author on the study, which was published in the journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice. Researchers examined data from 55 young adults (ages 18-25) with serious mental illness who had used crisis emergency services. Of the 55 young adults interviewed, 34 "mentioned religion or spirituality in the context of talking about their mental health symptoms and service use with little-to-no prompting," researchers wrote. The sample for the study was racially diverse and gender-balanced. Not all of those interviewed considered themselves religious, as 41 percent answered "other," "I don't know" or "none" when asked their religious preference. However, researchers found that religion and spirituality emerged as a unique way in which this sample was able to make sense of their difficult life situations and mental health struggles. "Not only did these young adults struggle with serious mental illness, but they had also experienced extreme adversity -- including abuse, poverty, homelessness, addiction, near-death experiences, loss and an overwhelming lack of access to medical and mental health services," researchers wrote. "Yet, many attempted to explain, make sense of or organize their circumstances through their religious/spiritual perspective and talked about God as a source of comfort and support." The young adults expressed both positive and negative views of God, prayer and support from religious and spiritual communities. Regardless of their views, the important thing to note, Oxhandler explained, is that they're talking about these topics -- something social workers and counselors traditionally are not often equipped or trained to assess or discuss. "It's the elephant in the room," Oxhandler said of discussions of religion and spirituality. "If we continue to ignore it, we're ignoring a huge component of peoples' lives that may be tied to the clinical issue." Oxhandler, who has researched this area extensively, said such discussions can help drive subsequent treatment options. "As mental health care providers discern what mental health services to provide or coping strategies to recommend, it's especially important they understand the role of religion/spirituality in the lives of the vulnerable young adults they serve," she said. Researchers also found that those surveyed described using positive religious coping, negative religious coping or experiences, discussed their relationship with God/Higher Power and unpacked the role of their support systems and faith. Positive religious coping included prayer, reading religious texts, support from their religious and spiritual communities and identifying religious and spiritual meaning in difficult situations. Negative religious coping or experiences included having a negative experience with a religious organization not being supportive or receiving hurtful messages from the religious community. "Those who discussed their relationship with God or a higher power discussed God providing a sense of comfort or protection, accepting them for who they are or positively intervening in their lives," Oxhandler said. "Among those who unpacked the role of their support systems and faith, they often described family and friends referencing religion or God for support, and some even offered recommendations for others struggling with mental illness that involve religion and spirituality." Some of those interviewed shared that they found the mention of God or religion by family and friends less than helpful. For example, a 22-year-old white female with no religious identification mentioned in her interview that a family member "tries to tell me that going to church will be better for me because it will help me find peace, and it really does quite the opposite." Interestingly, researchers noted that nearly all participants who reported negative experiences with religion and spirituality also reported utilizing positive religious and spiritual coping or having a positive relationship with God. Oxhandler said such complexity highlights the importance of including religion and spirituality during the initial assessment with a client. "It's critical that mental health care providers be well equipped and trained to assess for the complex role of religion and spirituality in the lives of young adults with serious mental illness, recognizing that it could appear to be a tremendous source of support and resilience and/or a source of pain and discomfort, if even a part of their lives at all," she said.

Social Psychology

by Aman Kumar Singh

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3115 Views 5 years ago

Social scientists, in general, have argued vigorously for the autonomy of their field of study and have mostly looked askance at the attempts that have tended to show the social phenomena to be entirely determined by non - sociological factors. In their own turn, however they have been extremely antagonistic to the idea that there may be other phenomena which stand in the same relation to sociological phenomena as these do themselves to biological and physical phenomena. Sociologists, like most other scientists, seem to think that all that occurs in the field of human affairs is completely determined by factors which pertain to their own field of study. They are extremely averse to the admission of immanent causality within the field of supra- sociological phenomena. There seems, however, no reason to believe that the emergence of autonomous realms with their immanent causality ceases at the sociological level. It would be as much a piece of blindness on the part of the sociologists to deny this as it would be in the case of those biologists or physicists who would deny autonomy and immanent causality to social phenomena. The mistake in the case of the latter is clearly visible to every sociologist, yet he immediately seems to develop a psychic scotoma when he himself commits it. The supra-sociological phenomena are indeed dependent on sociological phenomena for their very existence, but this should in no way lead to the conclusion drawn by most sociologists that they are "determined" by them. If the logic of the argument were true in such a case, then we would inevitably be pushed further to the conclusion that the real determinants of any phenomenon are physical and not biological or sociological or supra-sociological in nature. The sociological phenomena, in fact, permit the existence of supra-sociological phenomena but do not determine them, in any way, in their specific nature. The large numbers of studies that have delineated the "determination" of cultural phenomena by sociological factors are vitiated, therefore, at their very core by this central fallacy.

Social Psychology

by siddharth menon

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2959 Views 6 years ago

In todays world, keeping oneself motovated to work hard, to acheive organisational and self goals is not easy. several organisation have been struggling hard to keep the employees motivated and focused towards work. Even after understanding the importance of motivation, many organisation fail to formulate and effective plan and implement it efficiently. Many researches have been conducted over the period of time to determine to factors affecting motivation of an emplyee thereby increasing the employee engagemnet with the organisation. Here are some of the prominent theories and a breif writeup about the employee engagement.

Developmental Psychology

by Udbhav Agrawal

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1 Attachment 6 years ago

First of all let me tell you, there is no such thing as “Main hardworking period” in life. If you want to be successful, you have to follow a consistent hard work! No one becomes successful in a one night fight… so you have to be patient enough to see the results of yourself being a hardworking person throughout the life! For some people, there are periods of life when you were more hard working while some other periods when you were lazy. Everybody has their own ups and downs in their lives… But the most important thing in all the situations is to be patient and hard working. I wish I had started earlier. But, you know what? After almost on the verge of completing two decades on this earth, my new favorite place to visit would be my bed. I’m usually tired by the end of the day because I've been working harder than I did before. Yet, I've never felt more happy and accomplished. Which makes me wonder what could have been had I started sooner.  Nevertheless, I didn't. Why? Simply put, I didn't know then what I know now. So here are some tips for you to be a hard working person:- Start early! yes that’s the most important thing… start your day early in the morning. by waking early, you can plan your day according to the priorities. and planning the day and sticking to the plan..is very important! Failing Isn't as Bad as You Think. It could have purely been due human error – like forgetting to carry the one in a math problem. That just means you’re human. Plus, you’ll learn from your mistakes. I mean, if you messed up that one test item which cost you, say 10 points, wouldn’t you be more diligent the next time? {As Thomas Alva Edison said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10 thousand ways that won't work.”} Practice positive self-talk. Introspection is very important. Use present tense messages when practicing self talk to remove future worry with positive assertions. Talk yourself through fears by asking yourself what the source may be and how you intend on correcting it. Time Is NOT a Commodity. You are young and have many things ahead of you. Choose to use your time wisely because time is a privilege NOT a commodity. Time will let you find who you want to become and create who you choose to be. It will bring you the experience of success and failure. You cannot change your past, nor can you know what's inside the mystery box of your future. All that you have in hand is the present you. so, start being hardworking from now… hope it helped you! Work hard, Be patient and Amazing things will happen for sure… Thanks for reading my answer (^_^)

Other

by Hrithik Choudhary

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2264 Views 5 years ago

Supplementary psychology material for students.

Other

by Pranab Kumar

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1 Attachment 5 years ago

Sports and Extra-Curricular Activities are very important for a student’s life. Both of these lead to the physical and social betterment of a student. Sports inculcate the habit of working together in teams, it develops a sense of companionship, it aspires everyone to develop leadership qualities in themselves, etc. Such qualities help students evolve to become better. Sports also demonstrates perhaps the most important characteristic in a human being i.e. “winning isn’t everything, participation makes a difference” everybody in the game desires to turn the game on their side but at the same time, the ultimate goal for everyone should be to give a healthy competition and one should make sure that they put up a decent fight out there. Participating in sports events sometimes can teach people about such things which could never be taught by any other media. Extra-Curricular Activities are the activities which aren’t involved in the basic curriculum of a school/university but still play a vital role in the overall development of a student. Extra-Curricular activities aid a student’s overall personality and blend perfectly with a student’s academic abilities, these may increase a student’s motivation and time management skills, which even makes them secure higher grades in their academics. These activities include from volunteering for NGOs, taking part in rallies/marathons for different causes, taking part in debates/MUNs, scouts, enrolling in the NCCs, participating in annual functions in schools/in fests for universities. Academics and extra-curricular activities complement each other and develop a well-rounded, socially skilled, and healthier student. Many students who excel in some extracurricular activities even get into universities under special recommendations too.

Sport Psychology

by Mihir Tanwar

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2165 Views 6 years ago

Stress as a phenomenon isn’t good for great. Homo sapiens tend to stress on anything, be it work, family, well-being, etc. Though, stress can be good in some cases in which people stress on something and then end up working harder which eventually leads them to their goal. But, 90% of the cases don’t go this way. People under stress are more prone and exposed to permanent diseases like blood pressure and in some severe cases, this can even lead to budding of heart problems. Stress Management is one of the cures which gives us a way to deal with the problem. Effective stress management leads to a healthier and happier life. Stress management involves a wide range of techniques and psychotherapies which control stress levels in a person’s life.  Firstly, people should begin to realize within themselves about the cause for their stresses and whether the problems are temporary or permanent. Also, people should try and let go of unhealthy ways which they use to get over the stress in their lives, typical examples can be procrastination, smoking, junk food, sleeping more than the normal durations, etc. Secondly, one should try and avoid unnecessary stresses like worrying about results, worrying about some approaching exams rather than studying for them. Some of the most common stresses can be avoided with a bit of positive thinking. Also, the company of some people who stress a lot can lead you too to stress unnecessarily. People should try to alter problems by reframing them and trying to change perspectives about them, for example, there lies no point on stressing about an upcoming result, as, whether you stress about it or not, the result would have no changes in it, so why not keep calm about it.  Stresses can also be sometimes related to some problems which you need to accept as you can’t change them and hence there is no point stressing over them. So, one should try and adapt to such issues in their lives. In the end, everyone should know that no issue or stress can ever be justified for giving up.  

Health Psychology

by Mihir Tanwar

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2132 Views 6 years ago

Curious about me? Welcome to the mystery world. Shubham Kumar Sharma… or simply Shubham is a dropper and currently preparing for the engineering entrance exam 2018 and hope to get into one of the elite institutes of India. He is an ambivert! And you will not find anyone as crazy as him if you get in touch and be true friends! He is a hard core Harry Potter lover, or as you may call “A Potterhead” He loves to read. Some of the favourites are Harry potter series, The Alchemist, The girl on the train, Mind reader, Eleven minutes and The power of your subconscious mind. Quora is the best addiction that he is happy for having. Oh! did i told you he is an Artist too! Hope you liked my work. There is a lot more about me that you could come across if you stay with me…Like, I bath daily (YES i do!) and that too more than once a day sometimes. I like Paneer tikka and Chicken tikka more than anything. I spend a lot of time doing crazy stuff and sometimes it becomes difficult to do what I should do at that time. But I am improving and hope I’ll be a better version of myself after each passing day! Keep smiling! There is a lot more to discover in life. Thanks for stopping by.

Other

by Hrithik Choudhary

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2122 Views 5 years ago

The number of people who live at home with Alzheimer's Disease (AD), a brain disease that causes abnormal changes that kill brain cells, is expected to grow from 3.2 million today to more than 8 million in 2050. Experts agree that we know very little about sexuality among people living at home with AD or other cognitive problems. Older adults who have cognitive problems that impact the way they think and make decisions may ask physicians to help managing sexual problems. And caregivers may ask physicians about sexuality in the older adults for whom they provide care. One frequently asked question is: Do older adults always have the capacity to consent to sexual activity? Researchers have previously shown that the majority of people aged 57 to 85 have a spouse or other intimate partner and, among those with a partner, most are sexually active. Having an active sexual life is linked to better physical and mental health, higher quality of life, and lower rates of loneliness. To learn more about the connection between sexuality and cognitive status, researchers designed a new study. They analyzed data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to learn more about the relationship between sexual behavior, function, and cognition (people's ability to think and make decisions). Their study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Based on their study, the researchers reported that: - 83 percent of men and 57 percent of women had an intimate partner. The more impaired participants' abilities to think and make decisions were, the less likely they were to have an intimate partner. - Women with lower cognitive scores were less likely than men with lower cognitive scores to have intimate partners. - Nearly half of all men with dementia were sexually active, as were 18 percent of women. - Among people with an intimate partner, the majority of men (59 percent) and women (51 percent) with dementia were sexually active. More than 40 percent of partnered men and women ages 80 to 91 living with dementia were sexually active. - More than 1 in 10 people living with a partner reported feeling threatened or frightened by a partner. This finding was similar among women and men and across different levels of cognitive problems. Experts and guidelines call on physicians to screen for elder abuse (the mistreatment of older people, which can take many forms, including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect), including sexual abuse, but definitions of abuse and standards of consent for sex vary widely. The researchers estimate that, among people living at home who are aged 62 and older, at least 1.8 million men and 1.4 million women with suspected or diagnosed dementia are sexually active. This number will more than double by 2050. However, rarely do these people (especially women) receive a physician's counseling about sexual changes that may occur with dementia or other medical conditions. The researchers suggested that these findings can inform improved counseling, treatment, and person-centered decision-making by physicians and other healthcare providers caring for people with dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Sexual activity is an important aspect of human function throughout your lifetime, said the researchers. They added that respectful care for older adults, including people with cognitive impairments, requires an understanding of sexual norms and problems -- and effective strategies to manage sexual concerns with dignity.

Other

by Aman Kumar Singh

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2066 Views 5 years ago