Tag: influence

Peer group and its influence

 

                                                                            (Photo: Titanium Success)

According to APA Dictionary of Psychology, a group of individuals who share one or more characteristics, such as age, social status, economic status etc. are peer groups. Peer Group is both social group and primary group. 

Functions of Peer group:

  • Provide support in shaping an individual’s self-esteem and self-valuation.
  •  Provide emotional security under unprecedented or threatening situations.
  • Provide the foundation for intimate relationships as they are essential non-family contexts for intimacy and affection.
  • Teach gender roles.
  •  Help in Identity formation.
     The peer group is an important socializing agent contributing beyond the influence of the family and school. Peers socialize each other through certain mechanisms. They are.

  •  Reinforcement – Giving Attention.
  •  Modeling-Imitation
  •  Punishment- Rejection, bullying etc.
  • Apprenticeship- Someone with more experience teach someone with less experience.

As your teen grows older, their peers will play a bigger role in their life. Their friends may influence everything from what they wear to how they talk.

  1. Positive influence: Positive peer influence is when someone’s peers influence them to do something positive or growth building. For example, peers who are committed to doing well in school or at sport can influence others to be more goal orientated. Similarly, peers who are kind, loyal or supportive influence others to be the same. They are subconsciously looking to their friends for information about how to act and interact with others. For the same reason, they also learn more quickly in the presence of their peers. For example, friends tell your teen to study harder so they can get better grades. They decide it’s cool to get good grades in a test. Several of your teen friends buy their own car. Your teen becomes motivated to save their money so they can buy their own car too.
  2. Negative influence: If your teen starts hanging around with the wrong crowd, like peers who skip school, do drugs, and break the law, they’re likely to influence your teen behavior in an unhealthy way. Most negative peer pressure involves more serious problems, like pressuring a teen to smoke cigarettes or experiment with drugs. For example, your teen skips school because it’s senior skip day and they don’t want to get made fun for showing up. Your teen purchases e-cigarettes online because their friends tell them they can get away with it.
Peer Group Stages

ž PEER GROUP BY AGE (2 TO 6) –The first bond Or attachment that a child shares with is his Or her family. They feel secure and warmth around the family. They tend to be less aggressive and more actively involved in activities.

ž MIDDLE CHILDHOOD PEER GROUP ( 6 TO 13) –Children no longer need adults or their family to structure them socially. They start looking for children of their own age group. They try to socialize with children of their own age by doing friendship with them and spending time with each other.

ž ADOLESCENT –During adolescence, peer groups tend to face dramatic changes. Adolescents tend to spend more time with their peers and have less adult supervision. Adolescents’ communication shifts during this time as well. They prefer to talk about school and their careers with their parents, and they enjoy talking about sex and other interpersonal relationships with their peers. Children look to join peer groups who accept them, even if the group is involved in negative activities. Children are less likely to accept those who are different from them.

     How to tackle it ?

     1. Developing good self-esteem and taking charge of yourself.  

     2. Satisfaction and taking charge of our aspirations. 

     3. Choosing our friends wisely.

     4. Identify our core values.

     5. Taking the help of our parents/elders/teachers.

     CONCLUSION

     “Without friends no one chooses to live, though he has all other goods.” – Aristotle

     It is not possible to live our lives without being influenced by anyone. So the best thing that we can do is guard ourselves and to choose our influence.

 

 

 

 

Celebrity Endorsements

Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behavior
Image Source: google.com

Celebrities can influence the taste, preference and beliefs of the public. They can make powerful Influence in the minds of consumers about the product and services which they endorse. A popular face can communicate more than any advertisement using a model. It will lead to mass brand sale. Companies use stars to endorse any products and services like food, soft drinks, soaps, perfumes, hair oil, cosmetics, home appliances, mobile networks, mobile phones, electronic equipment, health products, automobile etc. Even political parties are influenced by the charisma of stars because of the magnetism of stars in the country. In the recent parliament election major political parties fielded a record number of stars from different constituencies around the country. South Indian star Nagma, Innocent and Suresh Gopi from Malayalam industry, Anitha Prathap from media competed in election.

Factors of successful celebrity branding

1)            Consistency and long-term Commitment

As with branding, companies should try to maintain consistency between the endorser and the brand to establish a strong personality and identity. More importantly, companies should view celebrity endorsements as long-term strategic decisions affecting the brand. A global must respect local needs, wants, and tastes while endorsing.

2)            Prerequisites to Selecting Celebrities

Before signing on celebrities to endorse their brands, companies need to ensure that they meet three basic prerequisites, namely the endorser should be attractive, have a positive image in society, and be perceived as having the necessary knowledge (although it might be difficult for a celebrity to meet all three prerequisites.

3)            Celebrity-Brand match

Companies should ensure a match between the brand being endorsed and the endorser so that the endorsements are able to strongly influence the thought process of consumers and create a positive perception of the brand. Tiger Woods endorsing the Buick brand makes no sense at all. There is just no believability that Tiger is dying to drive a Buick. And without believability celebrity endorsement is worthless.

4)            Constant monitoring

Companies should monitor the behavior, conduct and public image of the endorser continuously to minimize any potential negative publicity.

5)            Selecting Unique Endorsers

Great brands represent great ideas. These brands express the uniqueness of position to all internal and external audiences. Companies should try to bring on board those celebrities who do not endorse competitors’ products or other quite different products, so that there is a clear transfer of personality and identity between the endorser and the brand. The controversy related to the endorser’s personal or professional life must hamper the associated brand image. Kobe Bryant’s family-friendly endorsement deals with Nutella and McDonald’s came to a quick end after he was accused of rape.

6)            Timing

As celebrities command a high price tag, companies should be on the constant lookout for emerging celebrities who show some promise and potential and sign them on in their formative years.

The benefits of celebrity branding

  • Attracts the attention: Celebrity ensures attention by breaking the clutter of ads and makes the brand more noticeable.
  • Establishes credibility: celebrities create a sense of trust for the brand among target audience. It will be more helpful to new products.
  • Associative benefit: When the celebrity prefers the product it helps to create a persuasion to the target audience. It creates a feeling that as the celebrity benefits from the brand the consumer will also benefit.
  • Psychographic connect: Stars are loved and respected by the public, so the advertisers use stars to capitalize the feeling to turn the fans towards their brand.
  • Demographic connect: Stars represent different demographic segments like age, gender, class, geography etc.
  • Mass Appeal: Stars have universal appeal can make interest among these masses.

It’s not your weakness, it’s their strength

Are you motivated to do something? It’s what we call it but people will call it as influencing. They didn’t betray you, you trusted them. You are easy target for them. It’s you whom you should change. People are easy target for them. It’s us who should make us strong. Beleiving is good, but trusting is not better. They create a impression on your brain that you get attracted to them. It’s not your weakness, it’s their strength. Try to make yourself from such incidents.

Trusting blindly will not happen all of sudden. It’s a slower process where they crate a impact of them on you. People with clarity will definitely fake the people who actually wanted to fake us. So be careful while choosing friends. It’s easy to get influenced because it’s difficult to influence. Believing and betraying is a cycle. People who got betrayed will become the people will betray. it’s a never ending cycle. It ends when people start betraying. It only happens when people stop betraying. Have clarity over such things. There are too smart to catch. They influence you with their magical words which create a direct impact on your brain. Escape from such things.

Have a true life rather than making people suffer. Be kind and gentle atleast to yourself. Anyone no one gonna live permanent. People will betray someone untill people stop betraying. Have guts to earn something by working hard. Believe in your work and have confidence in you. Be happy with what you have rather than wasting your time on something that you never get. Go in a truthful manner and definitely right yhing will happen.

You definitely do what your friend had done because you too wanted to do what he did. It’s good it it’s good but if you do something wrong them that’s completely wrong. You will definitely get influenced by your friends unknowingly. You should have a control over your thoughts on this issue. It becomes serious if you do something that shouldn’t be done.