When looking at modern perspectives of psychology, one of my favorite ones to study is the idea of sociocultural, or how others influence you and you influence others. While it is somewhat of an obvious perspective, I find it to have such a strong influence on people. Even though I also believe that the other six modern perspectives are all important, I find myself relying on this one most often. Many times after meeting new people or learning things about old friends, I will find myself justifying their actions based off of what I have learned about their social factors and culture. I feel that learning about one’s social factors in their life can help tell you a great deal about their behaviors and why people act the way they do.
One sociocultural factor that I truly believe had an impact on me was my mother and her hatred for all seafood. For the last twenty one years of my life, my mom cooked dinner almost every night and had never made a seafood dinner. She hates to eat any sort of fish, cannot stand the smell, and so she also hates to cook it and actually refuses to. Since I have grown up never trying seafood and never having to smell it’s fishy aroma, I also have adopted this attitude. I cannot stand to smell the stench that seafood produces and any seafood that I have newly and recently tried I hate. To be completely honest though, I think a majority of this notion is in my head as it was what I was raised hearing and what became a part of my culture. Some seafood does not have the fishy taste and I still claim I do not like it but often I wonder to myself if that is actually true or if it is just too unfamiliar for me to say I like it? Fish was never a food served at dinner or social gatherings in my culture, so therefore I have learned to never eat fish for dinner or at social gatherings. I do think everyones social factors and cultures have such a strong impact on their lives and decisions, and now I have evidence to blame my mother for being the sociocultural reason that I will not touch seafood either.
Totally the same situation for me, but mine is a little more specific. My mom hates scallops more than anything and she refused to cook them or anything when I was little. But I went to a friend’s house one night for dinner and they had scallops. To my surprise I actually really liked them, despite spending the first 18 years of my life thinking they were the devils food, thanks to my mom.
I can definitely relate to this point! Who you hang out with and what you are exposed to definitely influences your likes, dislikes, personality, etc. I used to really dislike football. It was never something that I really was into. Basketball was primarily my sport, but as I started growing up and hanging out with friends who played madden all the time and got crazy excited for the Superbowl, I slowly started getting into it. I found myself actually flipping through channels and stopping on a football game and I was surprised! I feel like your interests can change, your likes and dislikes can change for the most part, it is all dependent on your interactions. Sociocultural perspective is critical because you can learn so much from it. Your behavior is almost directly influenced by it. An example could be, you know you are going to meet Obama tomorrow so you put on your best outfit, practice what you are going to say, and act like a completely different person. You are almost unrecognizable. As opposed to you being with your friends and showing your true colors. Great job on your post.
I definitely see a comparison in my life. My mother is afraid of heights and has never been in an airplane, roller coaster, or anything like that. This caused me to have an inordinate hatred for heights. I couldn’t go on roller coasters or anything like that because of never being exposed to anything that is higher than 100 feet. After trying out a roller coaster years back, I learned to love going to amusement parks to go on as many thrill rides and roller coasters I can. I still haven’t been in an airplane, but I will be going in one after graduating this semester. The only way to find the things you enjoy is to go outside of your personal comfort zone.