Social facilitation

Social facilitation is improved performance in the presence of other people - for example, doing more pushups or running farther when someone is watching. This boost usually doesn’t carry over to complex tasks. When a task is difficult or unfamiliar, the added pressure can increase nervousness and reduce performance.

• Conformity is changing your behavior to match a group, even if you don’t personally agree.
• Deindividuation happens when you feel anonymous in a group. That anonymity can lower self-awareness and accountability, which is why it’s often discussed in the context of mobs or riots.
• The bystander effect occurs when people who witness an emergency don’t help. A common reason is diffusion of responsibility, where each person assumes someone else will act.
• Social loafing is a drop in individual effort when individual contributions can’t be easily evaluated (for example, in some group projects).

Social control

Social control refers to the ways a society encourages people to follow rules. This can happen:

• Formally, through laws enforced by an authority

• Informally, through everyday norms (like not cutting in line)

• Peer pressure is conforming to peers to gain acceptance.

• Obedience is changing behavior in response to an authority figure, often to gain approval or avoid negative consequences.

Group decision making

• Group polarization is when discussion pushes a group toward a more extreme version of its original position.
• Groupthink is when members adjust their opinions to fit what they think is the group’s consensus.

Social norms

Social norms are shared expectations for acceptable behavior, such as waiting your turn in line. Norms are enforced through sanctions, which can be positive or negative (for example, giving someone a disapproving look or directly correcting a line-cutter).

Folkways are customary behaviors with little moral significance, such as whether people shake hands or bow when greeting. Mores reflect a group’s core moral beliefs and are often supported by formal policies or laws. Mores can include widely shared expectations (like not attacking or killing others) as well as culture-specific rules (like strictly regulated composting and recycling, or norms against men and women shaking hands). Taboos are behaviors or topics considered forbidden, such as incest.

Anomie is a condition in which social norms weaken. When norms lose their force, people may feel socially - and sometimes morally - disconnected, such as during war or major natural disasters.

Deviance

Deviance is any behavior that departs from cultural or social norms. It can range from minor acts (like nose-picking) to serious crimes (like homicide).

The differential association theory argues that people learn deviant behavior through close relationships and social interactions. Labeling theory focuses on how other people’s reactions help define what counts as deviant; in this view, deviance is shaped not only by the act itself but also by how others label and respond to it.

Although the term often sounds negative, deviance can also drive social change and reform. Strain theory explains one pathway: when socially approved goals can’t be reached through legitimate means, some individuals may turn to deviance.

Collective behavior

Collective behavior includes group actions that aren’t guided by formal structures, such as crowds, masses, or publics.

An example of a mass is an online fan club with hundreds or thousands of members. A mass is defined by shared interest rather than physical closeness.

An example of a public is people who believe in reincarnation or support euthanasia. These individuals may not be organized or connected to one another, and they may be widely dispersed, but they share common ideas.

Mass hysteria is widespread anxiety or rumor that affects a large number of people.