In his TED Talk, Nicholas Christakis gives an illustration of the hidden influence of social networks. Generally, people tend to engage in many social networks. Such, for example, may include marriage relationships, family, and friends. To illustrate this, Nicholas gives an example of a “widowhood effect.” In social sciences, the widowhood effect posits that the chances for a person to die – especially in the first year – are increased if a spouse dies. The widower effect – also known as “dying of a broken heart” – does not only apply to husbands and wives or people who are identified as pairs connected (Christakis). The reason behind this is that people are connected through social networks. Individuals in a particular pair are connected to other individuals in another nearby pair. This means that people are usually embedded in some sort of relationship. Such may include marriage, spousal, friendship, or some other ties. These small connections are then embedded in other vast and broader sets of connections bringing people together. These social networks are generally elaborate, complex, and ubiquitous. The purpose they serve is also complex in the sense that they also affect our lives in many ways.
To understand how social networks form, operate, and affect us, Nicholas sought to study the issue of obesity from the perspective of it being an epidemic. To achieve this, he was guided with several questions such as; whether obesity (as an epidemic) could spread from one person to another. From this study, Nicholas established that the risk probability of a person being obese is higher in a case where his/her friends are also obese. The risk of being obese declines if the friends of your friends are obese. For the friends of friends of friends (people you might not even know), the risk is even lower (Christakis). Getting to your friend’s friend’s friend’s friends, there tends to be no relationship between that person’s body size and your body size. The idea behind this study was not the issue of obesity but how behaviors of those within our social network spread to us. That is, we can adopt a poor health habit from our friends and then start gaining weight like them. In understanding the social networks embedded in people, a deeper lookout for emotions and attitudes is also important. This is so since the world tends to depend on the actual structure of these networks and people choose to reside on and all the kind of things that flow through or ripple the networks.
Generally, Nicholas’s talk gives an overview of social psychology and its place in our lives. Much of our social behaviors tend to be shaped not only by what is within our environment but also through the attitudes that we assume. Attitudes generally refer to the emotions, beliefs, and behavior that we have toward a particular object, person, event, or thing. Usually, attitudes are formed as a result of experiences that we undergo which have a strong influence over how we behave (Christakis). However, attitudes are not permanent and hence they can also be changed. In most of the case, the attitudes that we assume are acquired through social processes that arise from the social networks we are embedded to. According to social psychology, it is also through our attitudes that we attempt to change the behaviors of other people within our social networks mostly through our ideas, decision, and/or actions. Of particular concern, Nicholas discusses the place of others in shaping our attitudes – social learning.
In shaping our attitudes, the actions of others must embody particular characteristics to be effective. The credibility of the influence should be there. Interactions in a particular social network involve sharing of messages that then change the attitudes of other people within the same social network. In some cases, however, the messages along with their source may not be credible enough to cause an influence or a change in attitude. However, through the “sleeper effect,” the social networks we embed to can also influence and/or change our attitudes. For the case influencing obesity into other people within our social network – a bad influence on attitude – sleeper effect may lead to an increase in the risk to be obese as well (Kumkale & Albarracin, p.143). The second aspect contributing to an attitude change is attractiveness. Nicholas gives an example of obesity and how it can be easier for one to be obese if people within a social network are also obese. It becomes easier for other people within our social networks to change our attitudes if there is the attractiveness of the influence coming from within our social networks, it becomes easier for a person to change. The strength of the message also plays a critical role (Doherty & Kurz, p135). According to social judgment theory, people tend to persuade themselves following an evaluation of a particular idea mostly by comparing it with current attitudes. The outcome of the assessment is what determines whether a person will anchor to a particular point of view or not.
Works Cited
Christakis, Nicholas. The Hidden Influence of Social Networks. TED, February 2010. Web. <https://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks?language=en>.
Doherty, Michael E., and Elke M. Kurz. “Social judgement theory.” Thinking & Reasoning 2.2-3 (1996): 109-140.
Kumkale, G. Tarcan, and Dolores Albarracín. “The sleeper effect in persuasion: a meta- analytic review.” Psychological Bulletin 130.1 (2004): 143.
