If we talk about one specific person, then we can confidently say that his psychology and behavior largely depend on the social environment in which he operates. How can it affect the personality of people? What is a social environment?
general information
The social environment is a society where people are divided into a large number of numerous and diverse compounds called groups. There may be large and small groups. Conditional divisions in this case are relative and largely depend on scale. Groups may include states, nations, nationalities, parties, classes, and other formations that have a professional, economic, religious, educational, cultural, age, gender, or other basis for classification. Through certain levers, in this case, they can influence the psychology of people.
Small group
It is a direct conductor of the influence of society, as well as larger groups. It can also act as a feedback link when an individual influences a large group. The number of people included in this association is approximately 2 to 30 people (the range may vary in different classification systems). Often small groups are also called cells of society (as an example, family). In it, one single person spends, as a rule, most of his life.
The thesis of influence mentioned earlier to a greater extent must be attributed specifically to small groups. What examples can be given? In this case, the conditional group is schoolchildren, families with children, and so on. In this case, the behavioral and psychological community of the members is of great importance for characterizing the association. Thanks to these features, a conditional social group stands out among the mass of others. But that is not all. It also becomes a socio-psychological formation with a certain autonomy (albeit relative) in the framework of society. This can manifest itself in various characteristics, ranging from external (like territory) to deeply internal (family).
Conditional group
This is a union of people. The important thing is that they should not be previously defined in a small group. Such a combination is appropriate for comparing the results that were obtained in the course of some research. The most important in this case are conditional and real groups. A feature of the latter associations is that they exist in reality. The real group is fully consistent with the definition of paragraph 2 of the article. On them you can judge the trends that occur within the community of people. Conditional groups are artificial formations. They are widely represented people of various professions, social affiliations, ages, education and so on.
Application
So, we already know what a conditional group is. This is good, but where can I meet them? Where is their formation important? The answers to these questions are not always clear to many people, and we will deal with this now.
So, let's look at the first example of a conditional group. We have a hypothetical politician who wants to be promoted to a specific position. But his fate must be decided by the people. In order to find out his chances, he orders a case study. Within its framework, a certain number of people will be interviewed (for example, 2 thousand). Interested in the opinions of those who are between the ages of 18 and 60, as the most active. Then people are sent to different parts of the territory who conduct a survey within the framework of this predetermined group of people. They try to reach the population in such a way that the age of the individuals surveyed as a percentage corresponds to the current demographic situation in the country.
You can also look at such a phenomenon as a conditional group, from the point of view of marketing research. So, let's say that it is planned to release new bars. But how to determine how well they turned out? This is helped by a group of tasters, which is formed from potential consumers of products. In this case, the selection is made by age, social status, financial ability and so on. Then they are provided with products, and tasters should give their assessment of the work of the technologists who created this bar.
Classification of conditional groups
This is done depending on how much the activity is calculated. After all, it may be such that this is only a request of the moment, or long-term studies are conducted, for which the classification of groups plays an important role. The conditional system here highlights:
- Association of near prospects. In this case, issues are being worked out that can be implemented in the near future and as soon as possible. As a rule, information is collected on the most important needs of the association.
- Group of secondary goals. In such cases, studies are conducted for a longer time, and their main goal is to conclude the interests of the secondary collective. In this case, you can give an example with an enterprise or school. So, the psychological state of individual individuals can be checked, work is underway to create a more comfortable environment, and so on.
- Combining long-range perspectives. In this case, the primary group is considered together and exclusively in line with the problems of functioning of a certain social integrity.
Content
So, we already have an understanding of what conditional groups can be attributed to. It should be noted that for the success of the study, the object in question should be of interest to each member of the group. Moreover, there must also be points of contact. That is, the object of study should be perceived by the members of the group. So, we can confidently say that information on expensive sports cars, obtained from the poor, will be of very little value. To adjust the data, the objectives of the study play a large role. They provide that surveys should be carried out in formal target structures.
Organization
This aspect for conducting a successful study is as important as knowing what a “conditional group” means. In this case, the approach to data collection and the organizing principle should be separated. So, in the first case, the quality of the training of personnel who conduct the study is considered. Returning to the example with the political system considered earlier, it can be noted that how people can find mutual understanding with the respondents, how they will approach the formation of questions and much more, affects the final result. That is, it is an important and integral element of research. Regarding the organizing principle, we can say that in this case it is considered that something formed. It can be personified (for example, parents in the family or the founder of the company). It may be that the organizational principle is not easy to single out. But this does not mean that it is absent. So, if we look at the leadership situation further, we can assume that the leadership function will be divided between people who are members of the group. Then, in this case, the manifestations will be purely situational in nature, when the person who has the most experience in something will take control.
Importance in sociology
The conditional group is a basic element of many studies. To obtain the most accurate data, a certain selection is carried out according to strictly specified criteria. The use of the tools of the conditional group allows us to judge the trends that are forming in society. At the same time, it should be noted that it simply allows you to find out the state of affairs on the part of certain people, to get acquainted with their assessment. This is an important tool for maintaining feedback with voters for politicians or with consumers for enterprises. Conditional groups allow you to learn people's opinions on certain issues or opportunities. In this way, interested organizations and people can reduce their costs. Of course, you should be aware that due to logical errors, significant data distortion is possible. Therefore, to obtain the most accurate result, you must act according to carefully designed instructions.
Case Study
Consider a political example. There is a country from two areas. The number of the first is twice as high as the second. The politician’s team is conducting a study of public opinion, and it shows that he can confidently win the presidential election. The process of the expression of the will of the citizens passes, and it turns out that he loses miserably. Why? If we assume that the study was carried out without fraud, then we can consider this option: it was carried out in the area where the politician had great support. But there were fewer people at the same time. Therefore, despite the fact that the politician enjoyed quite considerable popularity, he still lost. To obtain reliable data, people should be sent to all administrative entities. Moreover, sociologists should be divided according to the percentage of people living.
Conclusion
Alas, it is regrettable to note that the tool of conditional groups, and sociology in general, very often serve for abuse. So, as an example, we can consider the situation when politicians publish data that are not true before the election. They may contain information that there is a choice of “OR”, as well as the fact that a particular person is an categorical winner. Thus, it affects the future choices of people. This must be resisted with all our might, as this is a direct attempt to influence the will. In a good way, such people should be removed from the election. But here the question of black PR is also actively raised. Indeed, such publications can be ordered by one of the competitors. Anyway, it should be noted that the culture of using conditional groups is still not up to par. Moreover, it should be noted that this is observed all over the world. Therefore, we can conclude that there is still room for people to develop and improve.