A couple of years ago, my friends and I went fishing a few miles away from our neighborhood. We could not drive all the way due to the thicket covering the path that led to the lake. This prompted us to walk the rest of the distance, which doubled up as an opportunity to hike. As we walked along the bushy path, we came across a wallet on the ground that was loaded with cash. The wallet had the driving license of a middle-aged man whom we assumed to be the owner. Next to the license was the address of where the man lived. Coincidentally it was about half a mile from our neighborhood. My first instinct was to return the wallet to the rightful owner. However, my friends had a different idea. One friend proposed that we share the money and fling the wallet into the lake. This conflicted with my morals, and I did not want to be part of it. The rest of my friends agreed to share the cash as earlier proposed. I did not want to be perceived as weird by my friends, and I reluctantly agreed. I regret going against my morals that day up to date.
The social situation I was in at that particular moment and the desire to identify with my friends influenced my decision making. The social identity theory argues that the social groups that we belong to have a significant influence on our behavior (DeLamater & Ward, 2006). People tend to identify with societal structures or groups that influence most of their cognitive processes. Individuals are inclined to conform to group behavior to have a sense of belonging. People may modify their behavior even if they are not compelled to do so to fit into the social group (Bordens, & Horowitz, 2001). People may imagine that they are expected to behave in a particular manner in certain situations hence conform to the group behavior. For instance, in the above scenario, I felt that I was expected to agree with my friends. This was despite the actions being out of character.
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References
Bordens, K. S., & Horowitz, I. A. (2001). Social psychology. Mahwah, NJ: L.
DeLamater, J. D., & Ward, A. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of social psychology (p. 571). Hoboken, NJ: Springer.
