Observation of social behaviors 2.0-1

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Apr 3, 2024

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Observation of social behaviors Erika Piasecki Introduction to Sociology 1305 Dr. Palladino February 2nd, 2024
For this observational social behavior essay, I decided to write about a group dinner with my five friends. This past weekend my friends and I decided to go out to dinner at a restaurant in downtown Austin. The place we went to was on the expensive side, and three out of my five friends had never been to a fancy place and rather chose something cheap like P. Terrys to go for their dinner. I decided to write about this situation because I feel like this dinner example provided a great observational experience that has the perfect potential for social interactions for this essay. During the dinner, I noticed some behaviors that stood out to me, some behaviors stood out to me more than others did. For example, at the beginning of the dinner when one of the friends showed up, he came in with sweatpants on, a long-horn hoodie and crocs. In a way, I was surprised that he would wear something that was not very formal when knowing he was going to a formal restaurant. I also noticed some of my friends were using their fingers instead of their utensils when trying to get a piece of food from an appetizer that we got for the whole table. The social interaction patterns I observed that I found interesting. Conversations would always find a way to keep going around, there was not a second where there was an awkward second at the table. Conversations would usually start with the same two people and everyone else would pitch in with their thoughts and ideas about the topic that was started. Everyone was surprisingly very supportive when they needed to be, which was great.
In a way, it was very rare for me to sit back and observe my friend’s behavior at dinner since first I love to talk and be in the conversation, I’m always one of the friends who likes to start a topic. It was fascinating to see how the concepts from this class worked together. The two concepts I used from this course for this observational essay are social norms and social roles. Social norms, in the case of one of my friends wearing non-formal clothing such as crocs, sweatpants, and a Longhorns hoodie attire to a place that is seen to be a formal attire setting. Social roles from my dinner can be shown as all of the friends supporting one another as well as connecting. Social norms are behaviors that reflect compliance with what cultures and societies have defined as good, right, and important (Conerly, 2022). Social roles refer to behavior patterns that are expected of an individual in different situations and settings based on their specific position within a social unit (Mcleod, 2023). In conclusion, this observational social behavior was quite enlightening. It has made me more aware there are certain behaviors and social interactions between individuals that can go unnoticed. This experience has been very beneficial in helping me reflect on social norms and social roles that can relate to me, as opposed to relying on the textbook and discussions.
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References: Conerly , T. R., Holmes, K., & Tamang, A. L. (2022). Introduction to sociology 3e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-3e Mcleod, S. (2023, October 4). Social roles and social norms in psychology . Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/social-roles.html#Social-Roles