3.3:
Social Scripts
Living in a social world involves knowing how to behave in a given situation. For instance, when people enter a new setting—like an elevator—they rely on past experiences and cultural expectations to guide their behavior.
These factors form a mental blueprint known as a social script—a person’s knowledge of what is culturally expected in a particular setting.
For example, when going out to a restaurant, one couple relies on their social script: they know that they should wait to be seated, make eye contact with the waitress when they are ready to order, and at the end of the meal, leave a generous tip.
Depending on a person’s culture, they may be uncertain of the local script to model. Instead, they frantically flag down the server, and even though service was excellent, they leave a small tip.
As they depart, and pass by several other tables, they start to recognize that their sequence of behaviors—their social script for restaurants—did not match with everyone else’s. However, they can form a new one and act appropriately, to fit in with the locals in the future.
Beyond interpersonal encounters, the media—including music and movies—can also play a role in writing a person’s social script. Video games, in particular, have been in the spotlight for their potential to impact script formation due to their interactive nature and ability to reward certain behaviors.
For instance, a teenager’s social script of driving behavior may be influenced by him playing a racing video game.
More specifically, when he’s behind the wheel, he could be more likely to drive dangerously—speeding and nearly crashing into cars—thus, mimicking his actions during game-play.
Depending on the circumstance, social scripts have the power to induce positive effects—like within the social norms of someone waving to a friend—or they might even encourage risk-taking behaviors if the person’s role model behaves in a such a manner.
3.3:
Social Scripts
People tend to know what behavior is expected of them in specific, familiar settings. A script is a person’s knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting (Schank & Abelson, 1977). Essentially, scripts are a particular kind of schema, one containing default values for the features within an event. In the restaurant example, the script's features include the props (e.g., tables, menu, food, and money), the roles to be played (e.g., customer and waiter), the opening conditions (i.e., the customers are hungry), the scenes (entering, ordering, eating, and leaving), and the results (e.g., customers are pleased, and the server made money).
How do you act on the first day of school, when you walk into an elevator, or are at a restaurant? For example, at a restaurant in the United States, if we want the server’s attention, we try to make eye contact. In Brazil, you would make the sound “psst” to get the server’s attention. You can see the cultural differences in scripts. To an American, saying “psst” to a server might seem rude, yet to a Brazilian, trying to make eye contact might not seem an effective strategy.
Scripts are important sources of information to guide behavior in given situations. Can you imagine being in an unfamiliar situation and not having a script for how to behave? This could be uncomfortable and confusing. How could you find out about social norms in an unfamiliar culture?
This text is adapted from OpenStax, Psychology. OpenStax CNX.