Discussion Board area

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 300–500 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

What would you do?

Sociology attempts to understand and explain social behaviors such as attitudes, violence and aggression, prejudice and discrimination, prosocial behavior where people help and cooperate with one another, self-identity and social-identity, social influence, and group behavior. People tend to behave differently in groups than they would behave individually. Group behavior can be positive, but it can also be damaging, such as the bystander effect (which is when the presence of other people prevents an individual from intervening in an emergency situation). For this assignment, consider how you would behave individually and if you were in a group.

Part 1

Watch the video What would you do to help a homeless stranger?

• How do you feel you would have reacted had you been a customer sitting at the bar when this situation happened? Why?
• Would your response and behavior have been different if you were by yourself or if you were with a group of your friends who did not want the homeless man to be served?
• To what extent do you feel social influence has on your behavior and your decision making?
• Was the scientific method applied in this social experiment? Explain your answer.

Be sure to cite your sources using proper APA format.

Part 2

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 100-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:

• What did you learn from your classmate’s posting?
• What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?
• What clarification do you need regarding the posting?
• What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?

Reference

thebaodao. (2013, February 10). What would you do to defend a homeless stranger? [Video]. Retrieved from the YouTube Web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uletl1MAeQ8

For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.