Discussion Social Influence

• Substantive and thoughtful; that is, discussion posts must refer to a topic from the week’s readings.  All discussion posts must be supported by current journal article(s) found in SFC Online Library Database system.  Discussion posts should draw from the information found in this week’s course materials, from personal experience, and from credible sources (peer-reviewed journal articles and sites provided by your professor).
• All information gained, read, or acquired from any source that is not your personal information must be cited throughout the document otherwise it is plagiarism.  All information must be cited in the body of the document AND full-reference text at the end of the document using APA style & format criteria.
• APA style & format criteria:
• Peer-reviewed journal articles from SFC Online Library Database System
• Current: January 2015 – Current month 2020
• PDF available
• Times New Roman font
• 12-point font
• Black ink
• Single spaced work for DISC and RESP assignments only (to save space)
• In-text citations appear throughout work
• Full-text references appear at bottom of work
• The discussion post should be three (3) well-developed paragraphs in length (about 7-9 fully developed sentences each; adhere to APA style & format including in-text and full-text reference citations).
• If your professor and/or fellow classmate(s) asked you a question, to follow up, or further explain a point, you are required to do so in addition to your two main responses. Failure to timely respond by Sunday of each week (to follow up questions) will result in reduction of points; 1 point for each entry not addressed.

Credible sources relevant to this course are (this is only a PARTIAL list):

Santa Fe College Library Database system (https://sfcollege.libguides.com/az.php (Links to an external site.))

American Psychological Association (www.apa.org (Links to an external site.))

Society for Personality and Social Psychology (https://www.apa.org/about/division/div8 (Links to an external site.))

American Psychiatric Association (www.psychiatry.org (Links to an external site.) or www.psychiatryonline.org (Links to an external site.))

National Institutes of Health (www.nih.org (Links to an external site.))

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.org (Links to an external site.))

World Health Organization: WHO (www.who.int (Links to an external site.))

REMEMBER: YouTube, Social Media, Wikipedia, etc. are NOT credible sources.

Examples of topics to write about

Choose only one topic from the examples below 

Social Learning

Discuss how humans learn a great deal by observing others. Everyone in the class learned how to speak their native language by watching native speakers (e.g., family). Similarly, much of our beliefs and values are learned from others. Learning from others happens quite explicitly in university, where students learn from instructors. Discuss how people would not know the plethora of things that we know (from how to speak a language to how to drive a car) if it were not for social learning.

Peer Pressure

What are some traits of power regarding social pressure and how we have evolved a strong desire to belong to peer groups? Ask what happens to those who violate the norms of the group and why people are likely to go along with norms as to not be expelled from the group. This discussion can include the norms in fraternities and sororities and sensitive topics such as anorexia, sexual behavior, alcohol consumption, etc.

Compliance

Discuss how students, in general, have been influenced by each of the methods of compliance: self-perception and commitment, reciprocity, social proof, scarcity, and mindlessness. Include aspects of incidental similarity (same birthday, same name, same school, etc.) as a powerful influence in compliance.