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Social psychology determines how individual patterns of thought change in relation to other people’s thoughts and actions. This entails how individual’s thoughts affect as they are affected by other people’s thoughts (Myers, introductory part). In prisons, people from diverse backgrounds come together; however, research indicates they have almost the same thought patterns.
Do people inherit or acquire behavior? According to Tomasic, personality is inheritable but these inherited personalities count very little in describing somebody’s personality (para 7). He concurs that the environment surrounding an individual, determines largely how he or she will behave. For instance, in prison not all people are harsh as they enter it, but with time, most of them develop an attitude of anti-authority (Ray, pg 265-271).
Why do people in prisons then present themselves as they do and how does this happen? According to Burns, individual behavior is not merely individual response to a situation (p 199). People behave in a particular way because of social influence but not because they believe, what they do is right or wrong. Social psychology thus helps to understand the reason why people in prison behave almost the same. Most people like to compare themselves with others to gauge how they fair and this leads to conformity.
The Sherif’s experiment established that individuals behave and respond to situations differently when evaluated separately. However, when evaluated in a group, they tend to have similar opinions (Burns, p 119). This indicates that people try to conform to behaviors of others thus affecting their behavior and action. People compare themselves with others who are probably above them. Therefore, in prisons, incoming inmates try to conform to the standards established by long serving inmates. This is how a common thought pattern arises in prisons.
Watson, who served 36 years in prison, posits that prisoners do not take prison as a place to reform rather they take it as a place of isolation (para 4). Fundamentally, the role of people in prison is to undergo reforms, unfortunately, they do not perceive this. Watson attributes this to the perception of society that prisoners are beyond reforms. Social psychology points out that people acquire these attitudes once they get into prisons. Due to society’s perception, prisoners acquire the notion that they are under isolation. These behaviors and thought patterns have no truth in them; instead, people make conclusions based on what other people think.
According to Levitan and Visser, people attitudes are open or rigid to change depending on the social network an individual is in. People exposed to a wide variety of views change their attitudes more readily than their counterparts exposed to small variety of views (Abstract). In prison, people are from diverse backgrounds hence an individual is likely to change his or her attitude in the midst of varying views. Moreover, these people feel isolated in prison, and in most cases, no prisoner feels justified going into prison (Jacobey, para 2). This forms the basis of adopting a common thought pattern of anti-authority. Miller posits that people with common beliefs share common thought pattern and this expounds why people in prison think and behave the way they do.
Social psychology thus contributes largely to understanding self, attitudes and behavior in prisons. It points out that the environment surrounding people determines largely how they behave. It indicates clearly that people make decisions based on comparison with others.
Works Cited
Burns, R. Social Influence. 2002. Web.
Jacobey, S. What Rights Should Prisoners Have? : An Analysis of Issues Surrounding Prisoner Rights. (n.d) Web.
Levitan, C. & Visser, P. The Impact of the Social Context on Resistance To Persuasion: Effortful Versus Effortless Responses to Counter-Attitudinal Information. 2007. Web.
Myers, G. Exploring Social Psychology. 1999. Web.
Miller, L. New Study of the Brain Shows That Facts and Beliefs Are Processed In Exactly the Same Way. 2009. Web.
Ray, J. Authoritarian Attitudes and Authoritarian Personality among Recidivist Prisoners. Personality & Individual Differences. 1984. (p 265-271). Web.
Tomasic, T. Personality: Nature vs. Nurture or something in between? 2006. Web.
Watson, D. Prison Reforms. 2008. Web.
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