Self Feedback Others Feedback
• The way you perceive others as well as how others
perceive you are driven by beliefs, values, and norms
learned and shared through interactions within your
family members, friends, neighbors, and other
individuals in the society.
• This accepting behavior of yours like appreciating and
respecting others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions
towards you is part of social influence as a process.
Social Influence
• Social influence is characterized by a change in
your behavior caused by the people that
empower you to adjust to a particular situation.
• Whether someone agrees or disagrees with you,
it influences your behavior that may help or
hinder your social roles.
• Social influence also happens when you change
your behavior to adapt to social demands.
• Social influence is categorized by conformity,
compliance, and obedience.
• Conformity is changing your behavior to be the same
with the others in the group (Asch 1955 in Ramirez
2020).
• For example, when you visit your friend’s home, to
show respect, you both ask for the grandmother’s
blessing because you were told that it is courtesy.
• This situation engages you to deal with it by adapting
to the shared norms and values to gain social
approval rather than rejection. You were able to
conform to the group standards.
• Compliance is granting a request or demand
asked by another individual in exchange of
either a reward or a punishment.
• For example, during examination day, you are
required to take the test to finish the grading
period and failure to do so may result in a failing
grade.
• Obedience means changing your behavior to follow
the demand given by an authority or an adult you
have high regards with.
• For instance, as a maturing adolescent, you want to
contribute to development through inviting other
friends to exercise proper waste disposal. Whether
you do it purposely as you try to give the leader your
respect or purposefully as it empowers you to
participate actively as a follower. Whatever your
reason is for obeying; it leads to social facilitation.
• This happens when you are given a sense of
responsibility that allows you to perform better if you
are with other individuals.
Given these three situations, you can choose to
conform, to comply, or to obey depending on
how well you perceive yourself and others;
likewise, how others perceive you. These are all
important in personal development.
• Activity:
1. Make an online survey on how other people
perceive you or see you. Your respondents are your
family, schoolmates, church mates, and your friends in
your Facebook. Ask them to describe you in terms of
how you relate with them using positive description.
• Activity:
2. Write your own description of how you relate with
others on the first column. On the second, third, and
fourth column, write the perception of your family,
schoolmates, or community respectively about how
you deal with them.
• Activity:
• Activity:
4. Print screen your post and comments.