The family, colleagues, but also old and new media have an effect on our autonomy in making decisions: how social conditioning works.
Psychology of social conditioning
The family, colleagues, but also old and new media have an effect on our autonomy in making decisions: how social conditioning works.
by MILENA ROTA
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From the very first moments of life, the conditioning of the outside begins to be exercised on the individual, influencing the way of living and acting in the world.
If we stopped to reflect for a moment, we would surely realize how any way of thinking, acting, feeling and perceiving is in some way conditioned , that is, not free from preconceptions, dictates, rules, etc. but on the contrary influenced and, in extreme cases, determined and preconstituted.
The social conditioning is definitely something that allows and ensures the functioning of a society, understood as a group of individuals who somehow share in lifestyle, a culture, a way of living and relating, religion, etc.
However, some studies have observed how social conditioning in extreme cases can also have negative effects and lead to pure and uncritical conformity , but driven by fear of judgment , a sense of guilt and the need to be accepted.
Social conditioning: how it works
Conditioning is defined as a strong influence exerted by external factors on the choices and behaviors of individuals and groups.
According to sociology , social conditioning is therefore a process by which individuals in a society are trained to respond in a manner generally approved by that society.
More evident is the influence exercised by the majority or by the group that expresses and is the spokesperson of the most widespread and accepted ideas, principles and behaviors in society.
What happens in these cases is the adhesion to the majority and what is called conformity. In some cases, however, it is a superior power, an authority that determines the actions of subordinate persons , as happens for example in companies or in workplaces where there is little possibility of expressing one’s talent and ability but only the acquisition of a predetermined and equal method for all.
Less evident and rarer is the influence exercised by the minority or by a minor group that opposes the ideas of the majority and tries to affirm new ones. In this case the conditioning is less strong and evident but it is usually a source of change and modification of the previous structure.
Conditioning works on several levels.
The first form certainly occurs in the family environment through education that expresses rules, moral principles and values, but also ways of behavior, vision and consideration of different realities and environments, etc.
The family as the first educational agency has a significant role in determining the identity of its members and thus influencing their way of thinking, seeing things and acting both in the family context and outside.
Generally speaking , children often have ideas and principles similar to those expressed by their parents and grandparents , except in serious or particular situations in which the new generations implement a detachment, and often deny what is expressed by the family, perhaps because they are conditioned by other contexts.
School is the second area of conditioning which passes especially through teaching and culture. The acquisition of a language, of Italian rules, mathematics but also history, geography, etc. they are all elements that act on the formation of the individual and therefore condition his development. Obviously, it is not a negative conditioning but something that, in any case, determines an adaptation to the context and the reference culture.
Other sources of conditioning are the peer group , the work context, the acquaintances, the cultural and religious groups to which they belong.
A key role is expressed by all the media of mass including social networks, internet, television, online and printed newspapers, TV news, etc.. Just think of the conditioning exerted by a simple advertising on your purchases , to understand how and how strong these sources of influence are.
Conditioning and conformism
Some scholars have tried to identify the principles underlying social influence and in particular conformity, setting up experiments that demonstrate the strength of the influence of the majority or authority on the action and choices of the individual.
Solomon Asch in 1951 submitted to a group of college students a perceptive task: each participant in front of the others had to compare a line called standard to three other lines called comparison, identifying which of the latter had the same length as the standard one. All the participants, except one, the real subject of the experiment, were accomplices of the researcher and had the task of giving a correct answer, all the same, but wrong. What emerged was that, although aware that the answer given by the other participants was obviously wrong, the research subject also emitted the same answer as the others, thus choosing the same line, albeit wrong. A phenomenon of conformity and adjustment to the majority had taken place.
This change of mind occurred for most of the tests performed and was often associated with an unease felt by the individual with respect to the disparity between his own judgment and that of the majority and therefore with an adaptation to it.
Even more surprising is what Milgram studied about the influence of authority and obedience to it even in cruel tasks (1974). Subjects were told that they would take part in research to evaluate the effects of punishment on learning .
Specifically, the task involved giving a shock of increasing intensity to an individual who was subjected to learning tests, each time he gave an incorrect answer. The shock and its intensity were decided by a physician who represented the authority. The doctor or experimenter and the student, or the one who received the questions and had to answer, were accomplices, the teacher or the one who asked the questions and activated the shock was the real subject.
The pupil was heard by the teacher but not seen and tied to a chair with electrodes. The teacher saw in front of him a machine with shock levers of increasing intensity. In reality the machine emitted nothing, but the subject did not know it. The student, as expected, got the answers wrong and the doctor ordered the teacher to give higher and higher shocks. The results show that, despite the atrocity and danger of giving shocks, many managed to administer very high discharges, obeying the authority , the doctor.
Therefore, these two experiments show how the influence of the majority on the one hand and that of authority on the other lead to even profound changes in one’s way of thinking and acting, even in obvious or very extreme conditions. Social conditioning is often something scarcely aware and controllable and animated by experiences such as discomfort, guilt and inadequacy, it needed acceptance and recognition, the principle of obedience that they impart since childhood but also some preconceptions and stereotypes such as the one represented by authorities or doctors.
