What do you find to be the major social influences that under lies the behavior?

Research Project & Paper:
This is an independent assignment. As part of your efforts to study social influence, you will observe some kind of human action and study it in depth throughout this semester. You can conduct an experiment, develop a survey, observe from afar, etc. In the context of this course, intersect your topic with topics in social psychology: attitudes and attitude formation; conformity; interpersonal attraction; prosocial behavior/altruism; aggression; prejudice; how and why we justify our actions; persuasion, advertising, the self; or some closely related topic.
Through your research (personal observations, dialogue/conversations, and in-depth exploration and scholarly readings), you will gain a detailed perspective about a specific human action or behavior. At the end of your study you will be able to discuss some reasons why people behave as they do, and what has influenced their behavior. The following questions can help stimulate your thinking.
What is the behavior I am studying/observing, and why?
How is the behavior defined?
Where does it come from/what causes it?
What human thought/reasoning/action accompanies it?
How does one respond when others are observing him/her?
What enhances or diminishes the behavior?
How might gender, age, race, or class be an influence?
Why is it a topic worthy of study in the first place?
What do you find to be the major social influences that under lies the behavior?
What good books, movies, songs, poems, pieces of art, articles address this?
Who are some of the scholars who study this?
What does current research suggest?

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