Social facilitation describes improved performance in the presence of others, such as doing more pushups or running farther when someone is watching. However, this enhancement does not extend to complex tasks, since heightened nervousness can reduce effectiveness under pressure.
Social control involves ways society ensures most people follow rules, whether formally (through laws enforced by an authority) or informally (through norms like refraining from cutting in line).
Social norms are shared expectations about acceptable conduct, such as waiting your place in line, and are enforced by sanctions, which may be positive or negative (giving the stink eye or saying something to correct the linecutter).
Folkways are customary practices with no significant moral weight, such as whether to shake hands or bow when greeting, whereas mores embody a group’s core moral views, often upheld by formal policies or laws. Mores include universal concepts like not attacking or killing others, and sometimes culturally-specific guidelines like strictly regulated composting and recycling or men and women not shaking hands.Taboos are forbidden behaviors or topics, such as incest.
Anomie denotes a state in which societal norms weaken, leaving individuals socially and sometimes morally disconnected, such as during war or major natural disasters.
Deviance is any departure from cultural or social norms, ranging from minor acts like nose-picking to severe offenses like homicide.
The differential association theory suggests people learn deviant acts from close associations, while the labeling theory proposes that reactions of others, rather than the actions themselves, define what is deviant.
Despite its negative connotation, deviance can catalyze social reform. According to the strain theory, when socially endorsed goals are unreachable by legitimate means, individuals may deviate.
Collective behavior encompasses any group activities not dictated 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, defined by having a common interest rather than by being in close physical proximity. An example of a public would be people who believe in reincarnation or support euthanasia; there may be no networking or organization among these people, who are also very spread out across the globe but they share ideals.
Mass hysteria reflects widespread anxiety or rumors affecting a large number of people.
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