What is a group? Dictionary.com gives this definition: 'any collection or assemblage of persons or things'
All person belongs to some sort of group, be it a social group to a charity organisation. This topic is also closely related with values and self esteem.
A 'group' can only be created with two or more individuals who; share a set of norms, have role relationships and/or experience interdependent behaviors, for example people who go to the pub with the same group of people at a set time on a regular basis. This is also an information group to belong, being in a social group like this can boost ones self esteem, as Solomon explains humans need to be respected by others in order to respect themselves, this is outline in 'Maslow's Hierarchy of needs' Every person fits into this hierarchy it starts off with the lower levels of needs such as water and sleep and goes up to the self fulfillment stage where doing something for others or for your self can lead to self fulfillment.
This interdependent behavior is very common in schools, as children settle into their own groups of friends and mix outside of school as-well. However, this can cause gang behavior outside of school hours, which can cause anti social behavior issues. Even though anti social behavior can be caused by people of all ages, elder people have a negative perception of gangs of youths and so called 'hoodies'. Although there are no official statistics to prove this, many people are petrified of the 'yob culture.'
Today in the UK there are many different types of dissociative groups that many people would stay away from, yet people are pulled into these groups through peer pressure. These sets of people cause problems through binge drinking, drugs, violence and other criminal activities. In the High Wycombe area the highest crime from the list above is anti social behavior, followed closely by 'other crimes', which include shop lifting, drugs offenses and criminal damage. (Police.com, 2010)
There are many different reasons that people join groups, for example an aspirational group is one that people want to join as the group does good within the community or has a high status in different areas, for example in business or in a social aspect. Above, I have covered the negative aspects of group and gang culture. Below, I will look at the positive side of groups and motivation groups from weight loss groups such as weight watchers to charity groups who work to help other people less fortunate.
There are many charity organizations large and small in the country who do good things. From the focus groups which we carried out last month for another piece of coursework, it was found that people preferred to give to charity organizations which affected them personally, rather than being persuaded by a TV advert. This was a group of people who wanted to help others, but at the same time wanted to know what their money was going towards, prior to donating.
People can communication to groups in many ways, from fact to face, to over the internet. This is something which many companies are using to communicate with their publics. When joining a commerce website the customer is asked a series of questions such as, age, gender, area of residence etc... this is then used by the company to group their customers and can then group them further by the previous purchases. For example a DVD rental company can email a group of people who often rent comedies or horror films when a new release is available. This is direct mail where it can be sent to only the people they know are interested in the products. This can be done on a personal level to engage the consumer at a deeper level.
To round this posting off, it is noticeable a person may copy a group of others if in an enclosed space such as a lift or car after a few minutes in order not to stand out. This is simply to fit in and not to look different from the others in the vicinity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge6wmDfsHXA
The video above explains the video perfectly as people join in just to fit in. This is what groups are about. People fitting in...
Reference List:
Police, 2010, 'crime rates in High Wycombe', [Online] Available at www.police.uk, [Accessed 22nd Feb 2011]
Solomon M R, Bamossy G, Askgaard S, Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behavior a european perspective, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson's Education LTD
What are values? Is it linked in the way a person acts? Do they change as life goes on? Where do we get them from?
There are a lot of questions there and in this posting I will be giving answers to each of them as this subject is, one that is very, complicated and contains many different factors.
Dictionary.com describes values customs. This is true as they are both interlinked. Our customs and values are closely related as they are both taught by parents when we are growing up. For example; not leaving the dinner table until everyone is finished, and respected elders and other peoples opinions.
Every single human being has their own value system that is unique to them. This is one of the many things that makes each person different. Just because each person has different values does not mean that they are not a good person, its simply they way they prioritise the things they feel are important in their lives. In today's diverse world, people prioritise things differently, from their health to their family.
Values can be affected by various different aspects of everyday life. This can also be linked to the posting on self concept, where an attitude towards a person can affect their self esteem.
In my life there have been many things that affected my values, although some have not affected me personally, they had made me think about certain things in life. For example when the Tsunami hit, in 2006, I felt some sadness as people had lost everything. This then led me to lead less of a materialistic life and made me open my eyes and be thankful for what I actually had in life. This disaster was somewhat personal for me as I had visited Thailand some years earlier and had seen the conditions that these people had to live in.
Another example of how my value system changed is one that is very personal, when two members of my family died in the same week. This then led me to think about living each to the fullest, as nobody knows what is around the corner.
Therefore, I feel that it is acceptable for values to change as life goes on. As a child our values come from our parents and up-bringing. However, as we get older and surroundings and friends change we pick up different beliefs that we may not have thought about or deemed important before.
Having taken a VALS test it shows that I am an experiencer and a maker, the two most opposite sections in the results table. As an experiencer it shows that I am experiencing new things in life and learning new things whilst being a maker and having a hands on approach to the way I live my life. Strangely, this is somewhat true!
Having looked at Kahle's list of values from 1983, I would choose the following factors, that I feel affect my life from the list:
- Self Respect, If you can't respect yourself - nobody else will
- Being Respected - Being respected will lead back to the Self Concept posting as being respected helps build a persons self esteem
- Warm relationships with others - If a person is able to have a friendship or more with another person it can give a sense of belonging and/or a sense of happiness. This is something that can be related back to Maslows Hierarchy of Needs.
The next section is the laddering technique, also know as the 'means-end chain model', which is all about asking one question - why? As a child I got told off for asking why too much, but now I have a good response if it were to happen again!
Laddering is a projective technique where people end up with a terminal value which is a persons preferred goal in life, this could be anything from world peace to family security. Laddering is something that helps marketers to identify the links between functional product attributes and desired end states.
An example of laddering is below:
The above example is one that represents someone who does not want to drink due to the after affects.
Solomon describes laddering as ' Consumers are helped to climb up the 'ladder' of abstraction that connects functional product attributes with desired end-states.' (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010, p204), having interpreted this I understand it can only work if the information of the products is available for the consumer to make their own mind up.
MECCAS - Means end conceptualization of the components of Advertising Strategy. This is where researchers can find information used to develop an advertising strategy, by identifying elements such as:
- Message Elements - This is where specific features are represented
- Consumer Benefit - What good will using this product do?
- Leverage Point - How will the message trigger terminal values by linking it to the specific features?
- Driving Force - What is the end value that the advert will focus upon?
(Solomon et al, 2010, p206)
A good advert that describes difference cultural values are those produced by HSBC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSLPEwvVvN0&feature=related
The above advert shows the different meanings between the
Reference List:
Solomon M R, Bamossy G, Askgaard S, Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behavior a european perspective, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson's Education LTD
Dictionary.com
A 'group' can only be created with two or more individuals who; share a set of norms, have role relationships and/or experience interdependent behaviors, for example people who go to the pub with the same group of people at a set time on a regular basis. This is also an information group to belong, being in a social group like this can boost ones self esteem, as Solomon explains humans need to be respected by others in order to respect themselves, this is outline in 'Maslow's Hierarchy of needs' Every person fits into this hierarchy it starts off with the lower levels of needs such as water and sleep and goes up to the self fulfillment stage where doing something for others or for your self can lead to self fulfillment. 
