Situational Influence

Situational Influences Psychology

Have you ever been in a situation where you were around people you did not know? You might have felt uncomfortable and did not feel like you could be yourself. However, if you were in a group of friends, you would have no problem showing your true personality. In this instance, the situation that you were in influenced your behaviour.

Situational influences can include a wide range of factors – the number of people, who the people are, authority levels, proximity, and pressure. Even if you know what you are doing is wrong, a situational influence might be so strong that you behave incorrectly.

Situational Influence and Obedience

Before we continue learning about situational influences, let’s understand their link to obedience.

Obedience is similar to compliance since they both result in a behavioural change due to someone asking them to. However, for the influence to be considered obedience, the ask has to be coming from an authority figure. In compliance, the request is coming from a friend or peer. The authority figure's status greatly impacts the decision of the person to obey the request.

Situational influences encourage obedience, making it harder for someone to say no.

Types of Situational Influences

Situational influence can be broken down into three main categories – proximity, the status of authority, and personal responsibility.

Proximity

Proximity refers to how close the authority figure is to you when they are asking you to do something. As you might assume, when the person is closer to you, you will more likely obey than if they are further away (or not even physically near you). That makes sense, right?

Proximity matters even in a less stressful situation. If your parent asks you to do a chore in person, you will probably do it; however, if they ask you to do it over text, there is less of a chance that the chore will actually be completed.

Status of Authority

The status of the authority refers to how authoritative you view the person. How much power do you perceive them to have?

The more authority (or higher status of authority) the person has, the more likely you are to obey their request.

Fig. 1. Would a teacher or head teacher have more influence over you? Pixabay.com.

While in school, you might have misbehaved in your class. If your primary teacher could not successfully discipline you and get you to listen, they could have sent you to the head teacher’s office. In this case, the authority status of the head teacher is higher than your regular teacher. When sending you to the head teacher’s office, your teacher was hoping that the higher authority would be able to make you obey and stop misbehaving.

Personal Responsibility

How responsible are you for your actions? While this theoretical question can lead to many answers, it is also asked about situational influences and obedience.

If you are asked to do something by an authority figure and obey, there is a lower personal responsibility for your actions. You were told to do something and you did it. If someone asked you why you behaved like that, you would easily tell them that an authority figure told you to do so. On the other hand, if you know your actions will be directly reflected upon you and your character (you will have a higher personal responsibility), you will be less likely to obey.

Individual and Situational Influences on Ethical Behaviour

Before we discuss influences on ethical behaviour, let’s first understand what it is.

When someone is acting ethically, what are they doing? They are probably making good decisions, keeping other people in mind, and choosing based on a good set of morals. The choice to behave ethically can come from within, but there are also times when the situation that you are in can lead you to behave more ethically.

Chances are, you know people who will always behave ethically and some who rarely will. These differences are most likely due to individual influences. Individual influences on ethical behaviour are crucial – they are responsible for the moral code that each person follows. A person's goals, values, morals, education, personality, and temperament are all individual influences that can impact their behaviour.

Situational influences are just as important for ethical behaviour. While someone might have the best moral compass, if they are in a situation where they are pressured or told to act otherwise, they might cave and act against their ethics. Can you think of a situation where you might not act ethically because of where you are or who you are with? Being in an unfamiliar group or environment can negatively influence your ethical behaviour.

Situational Influence Model

The situational influence model is a guide for people to comprehend how situational influences can impact their lives (and how they can be responsible for situationally influencing others). There are three steps to the situational influence model.

Energy

Energy refers to how much influence you can have in a situation. Without using your energy, you cannot influence a situation as much as you could otherwise.

Within energy, there are three options for use:

• Push energy: This happens when you are trying to influence someone to do what you want. It is the most stereotypical influence. It has to be used carefully so people do not feel forced.

• Pull energy: In pull energy, you are still trying to get someone to do what you want, but you are achieving it differently. Here, you understand where the person is coming from to help shape their behaviours rather than forcing your desires upon them.

• Moving away energy: Sometimes, you make the biggest statement by not doing anything at all. This is moving away energy. You not doing anything and removing yourself influences others’ behaviours.

Style

Style is the environment that is created within each type of energy. It can also mean the types of influences that happen at each energy.

In push energy, the two styles are persuading and asserting. Persuading uses techniques like reasoning and proposing ideas to change someone’s behaviour, while asserting relies on stating needs and incentives.

In pull energy, the two styles are bridging and attracting. Bridging is when you try to understand where someone is coming from to change their behaviour without changing your behaviour. Attracting focuses more on working together – you are more personally invested.

In moving away, the two styles are disengaging and avoiding. When disengaging you could take a temporary break or postpone plans or behaviours. While avoiding can lead to negative consequences, it is successful in moving away. Avoiding means backing down from commitments and situations.

Behaviour

In the situational influence model, behaviour is more of a general term. It means what behaviour usually means – how people act and carry themselves in different situations. Those more adept with their behaviours are more likely to influence others successfully.

Fig. 2. Have you used any of the aspects of the situational influence model on your friends? Pixabay.com.

5 Examples of Situational Influences on Personality

Situational influences can influence more than someone's behaviour. A person's situation can influence their personality – how someone acts and what they say can vary depending on the situation.

Below are examples of situational influence on personality.

• You get put into a group project with the people in your class who never do any work. Your personality might change to become more stressed and less talkative when you realise you have to do the project alone.

• Your parents went through a bad divorce when you were a kid. This turmoil when you were younger has shaped you to become more impulsive and emotional.

• The presence of an authority figure can change someone's personality from silly and extroverted to reserved and introverted.

• It’s down to the last five minutes of your football game and the score is tied. Your personality would be different than if your team were up by two goals.

• If you are talking with your friend on the phone, would you be more or less comfortable than if you are talking with them in person? The presence of the phone can influence how relaxed the conversation is.