Influence of a Social Group

Human individuals are simultaneously members of several social groups. Those groups can have different agendas. Not only that each group has favorite goals, but also those goals can be contradictory.

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For instance the same person may act as an employee, car driver, club member, father and so on. That feelings towards a group may change rapidly and unconsciously is common knowledge. That this influences political judgments was shown in a study[Error: Wrong macro arguments: "3060" for macro 'ref' (maybe wrong macro tag syntax?)] . Randomly selected passerbys were asked in front of a church or some other rather neutral building. The questionnaire included controversial political issues such as homosexuality. When asked near a church the answers were more compliant with religious ideologies.

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Waterlilly

Waterlillies are aquatic plants of the genus Nymphaea that exhibit impressive flowers. Not only because of its beautiful blossom I took this photo but it also graphically demonstrates its changing leave function with increasing age.

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Waterlilies grow their leaves in a centrifugal pattern. In this photo we see the green and small leaves near the center while older and even withered leaves are found at the border. Together waterlily leaves act as a small community. As members of a society, they show a division of function. While the new green leaves' function is photosynthesis the older withered leaves at the border defend the territory by pushing away competitors for space. There is no doubt that such a division of function had an evolutionary advantage.