Assignment: Demand for Medical Care

Assignment: Demand for Medical Care

Assignment: Demand for Medical Care

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“Health Demand, Elasticity, Principle and Agent in Determining Demand for Medical Care”  Please respond to the following:

• From the e-Activity, compare the primary individual factors that  influence demand, and explain the significant ways in which each affects  the demand curve. Provide at least one (1) example of these factors to  support your rationale.
• Imagine a situation where consumers have incomplete information  about their health status and about the productivity of medical care.  Examine the roles of the principal and the agent in helping consumers to  determine the demand for medical care in the described situation.  Provide at least one (1) detailed example of such roles in action to  support your response.

Principles of Social Psychology, v. 1.0​:  Introducing Social Psychology

Original Question:

For this week’s Forum, respond to the following:  We have all heard the saying, “You have one chance to make a good first impression”. If we were going to analyze this in social psychology terms, what would we say? What is the source of most of your knowledge about impression management?

Reply to the following response with 200 words minimum. (please make response as if having a conversation, respond directly to some of the statements in below post. This is not providing an analysis of the original post. Respectfully address it and even ask clarifying or additional questions.)

People regularly change their outward attitude and presentation of “self” according to their audience. We all have different social selves that depend on our social environment and social situation. This change of self-presentation is part of impression management – a conscious (sometimes subconscious) goal oriented process for managing what other’s think about us. We essentially change the way that we behave in order to manipulate or control another person’s perception or impression of us. Everyone uses impression management, but it’s important for people to maintain a solid sense of self rather than becoming a social chameleon and having no consistent sense of individualism and self-concept.

People often present themselves according to how they want to be perceived by their peers or audience- which is usually positive. According to Charles Cooley’s interactionist perspective “looking glass self” theory, people anticipate how others might perceive them and behave or adopt a specific personae based on that assumption or anticipation of peer opinions. We also internalize or develop some sort of feeling about ourselves based on what we think other people think or feel about us. Erving Goffman is another sociologist who came up with the dramaturgical approach which is also relevant to impression management. It suggest that there is a front and a back stage- people essentially play a character “front stage (or façade self)” based on their audience, but they are a different person “back stage” (Tedesci).

An example of this might be wearing a certain brand of clothing or car in order to garner a desired (anticipated) response from other people.  I might buy a Kate Spade purse because I think I will be perceived as more sophisticated than if I buy a purse from Walmart. Another example, an employee might joke around with their equals or peers in the workplace, but when their supervisor is present, that individual’s presentation of self might change dramatically and become more professional and reserved. This type of impression management would be used to avoid blame, gain credit, and ultimately avoid social disapproval. Another example- an individual might curse with friends, but in the presence of their grandmother, they might be more selective with their language because they want grandma to approve. Their goal is to manage and maintain grandma’s impression of them as a person.

The looking glass self is essentially the process of changing our behavior or presenting ourselves in a certain way based on the anticipated perception of other people within our social environment. People shift roles according to who their audience is and what is socially normal or acceptable within that specific social environment. It’s important for people to know themselves and have a self-actualized, realistic sense of self regardless of the use of impression management.

Haley

Tedesci, J.T. (ed.) (1981) Impression Management Theory and Social Psychological Research. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar

** Please don’t just rephrase their info, but respond to it. Remember to answer question at the end if there is one. **