Summary
People usually behave differently in different social interactions and their behavior can be easily observed and analyzed. According to Pornsakulvanich (2017), a society is a group of people living in a definable community who share common cultural beliefs and practices. These communities can be geographically localized or distributed within different geographical locations. As evolution progressed over the years and the history of mankind kept changing, societies also evolved from one point to another. Initially, people lived in the hunter’s and gatherer societies, which were characterized by strong organic solidarity bonds (Ibrahim & Ang, 2018). However, as evolution progressed, human-human interactions kept changing and are currently distinct in this technological era. Therefore, this essay identifies common patterns of social behaviors within a specific social setting.
Description of the Event
One evening, my parents organized for us to have a family dinner during a summer holiday. This was an appropriate time as all my two sisters and my teenage brother had completed their semester and was at home on holiday. It had been a long time since we had such an interaction moment, so everyone was excited about it. That evening, we set off to a restaurant in town where we were to have our dinner. Our father was on time; he came to pick us up earlier. While he drove us off the forest road, you could notice the excitement on everyone’s faces as we had longed for such an event that would bring us together as a family. My mother maintained her calm posture throughout, even as my younger siblings kept discussing what they would choose for dinner when we got to the restaurant.
As mentioned earlier, social events and gatherings are among the platforms on which people’s social behavior can be easily learned. For this essay, I chose a family gathering as a social event to analyze people’s behavior, in this case, my family members and the people who surrounded us. Although I have spent the most time with my family members, I felt a huge gap with my siblings as we are apart from each other due to studies. Additionally, since the setting of the event was away from home, I considered this a good opportunity to observe the behavior of other people, especially in a restaurant setting.
Observations
One of the observations made was about my younger brother, who is a teenager who wanted to be left out of the main conversations. All along, he kept looking at his phone, browsing the internet, or chatting with friends on social media. For a moment, I did not think about it or take it offensively. However, I realized consistency in his behavior every time our father asked a general question that required everyone’s contribution. At some point, my father had to call out his name so that he could respond or generally show interest in the topics being discussed.
On the other hand, my youngest sister seemed bored with the conversations that we held at the dinner table. Soon after she finished taking her dinner, she started moving her eyes all around. Since she is always adventurous, she requested my parents if it was okay to walk around the park. At first, my mother was hesitant about it, but she kept insisting and both parents allowed her to go, but in the company of my other sister. Moments later, they came back and started to tell us about how they found the guard holding a gun. As they explained the incident, my younger sister could express fright on her face and we could tell how scared she was. My father looked keenly at her and showed empathy as she narrated the incident.
Finally, it was our time to leave the restaurant and we were excited to get back home. A German couple was seated at the front bench and were having a conversation. As the waitress passed by, the lady wanted to place an order and used the thumbs-up gesture. Since the waitress was Japanese, she interpreted this as five bottles of a drink when the German lady meant one. There was a miscommunication between the two due to the use of gestures. Of course, I thought she meant “That’s great.”
Discussion
Social behavior varies from one.social setting to another and is greatly influenced by cultural settings. According to Chen and Hong (2018), people often mistake social behaviors, especially if they do not share a common culture and this can easily bring a conflict. Currently, it is challenging to observe a person’s social behavior, especially when interacting through social media platforms. For instance, the use of certain symbols in online communications can be easily mistaken. In addition, it is difficult to show empathy when using technology as the main interaction forum (Pornsakulvanich, 2017). Unfortunately, this is where technology has taken society and human interactions are minimized every single day.
Additionally, the use of body language, gestures, and artifacts is another way in which social behavior is analyzed. Feelings are often expressed through expressions such as frowning, smiling, and even crying. It is easy to identify such gestures in a social event and relate to people’s feelings. The level of interactions can also be evident through such behaviors (Pornsakulvanich, 2017). In conclusion, human behavior varies from one cultural/social setting to another. Some of the gestures and language can be accepted within one culture and unacceptable in another. Therefore, people often change their social behavior depending on the social setting and culture surrounding them.
References
Chen, P., & Hong, W. (2018). Neural circuit mechanisms of social behavior.Neuron, 98(1), 16–30. Web.
Ibrahim, E. N. M., & Ang, C. S. (2018). Communicating empathy: Can technology intervention promote pro-social behavior?—Review and perspectives.Advanced Science Letters, 24(3), 1643–1646. Web.
Pornsakulvanich, V. (2017). Personality, attitudes, social influences, and social networking site usage predict online social support. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 255–262. Web.