Sociology Assignment: Analyzing Social Behavior in Starbucks Setting

This assignment presents a field study analyzing social behavior within a Starbucks environment. The student observed interactions and communication patterns among individuals, differentiating between interactions among strangers and those who knew each other. The study examined whether people followed social norms and if their appearance changed based on their familiarity. The student observed 12 individuals and found that those who knew each other maintained a social, behavioral context using both verbal and non-verbal communication. Conversely, those who did not know each other sometimes struggled to maintain proper social structures, especially when expressing opinions. The assignment concludes that people's social behavior improved when they knew each other, highlighting the importance of familiarity in social interactions within the Starbucks setting. The student also used references to support the findings.

Introduction of sociology
Student Name:
Student ID:

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Table of Contents
1. Topic/ Question...................................................................................................................................2
2. Social behavior....................................................................................................................................2
3. Behavioral context...............................................................................................................................2
4. Summarization and conclusion............................................................................................................3
5. References...........................................................................................................................................5

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1. Topic/ Question
How likely the people maintained their social behaviors in Starbucks?
2. Social behavior
The two questions that appeared in relation to the social behavior content of this topic are as
follows:
a) Do people follow their social behavior while interacting with each other in Starbucks?
b) Does their appearance changes when they know and communicate well with each other?
3. Behavioral context
Behavior Yes No
# Of people interacting with each
other in the Starbucks firm
3 9
# Of people appearance changes
when they have known and
communicate well with each other
in the firm
10 2
Overall comments After reviewing the social behavior content of Starbucks
firm, it is analyzed that people from different culture are
working in the company, and thus the way of interacting
of every person is different. It is seen that when people
was communicating before knowing each other they
were not maintaining proper social, behavioral structure
(Nowak and Latané, 2018). This issue aroused because
they wanted to express their ideas and opinions by
avoiding their differences in terms of religion, gender as
well as culture. Social behavior is considered as a set of
actions performed by an individual while interacting
with other person belonging to the same field. Thus
when two people do not know each but work in the
same field, then sometimes it becomes impossible for

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them to maintain the social and behavioral structure. At
that time, they mainly use the non-verbal mode of
communication while talking to each other. On the other
hand, when two people know each other, then they
follow proper social, behavioral structure. It seems that
in Starbucks, people appearance changes when they are
known to one another (Capraro and Cococcioni, 2015).
In terms of social interaction, they used both non-verbal
and verbal mode of communication aspects. Hence from
both these features, it is seen that after knowing each
other, the people’s social behavior was improved in the
Starbucks firm.
4. Summarization and conclusion
For understanding the social, behavioral context, I have chosen the communication procedure of
the people working in Starbucks. In order to analyze this, I have decided to make a visit to the
canteen area of the Starbucks by taking permission from the managing director of this company.
After sitting in the canteen area, I have analyzed the social, behavioral context of people working
in the firm. Two types of interaction procedure I have noticed, one is the interaction between the
people who do not know each other but work in the same department. Another interaction aspect
that I have noted between the people who know each other and they were colleagues working in
the same department.
After noticing both these interactions, I have come to the conclusion that the method of
communication-related to both these interaction process is slight different from each other. It
seems that some people follow social, behavioral context, while some of them does not follow it
properly. In order to deliberate my view properly, I have observed 12 people working in the
same department as this Starbucks firm. Twelve persons are chosen randomly, and in this group,
both experienced and inexperienced are present. This group of 12 people is chosen because it
helps me to understand the social behavior of individuals working in a similar department.
Overall I wanted to observe each people interaction procedure to their colleagues working in the

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same department, and due to this reason, I have selected this small group of people. Among the
12 individuals that I have selected for this examination, it is seen that three individuals have
communicated with the people belonging to their department and also to the people whom they
do not communicated before.
Besides this, I have noticed that the rest nine people do not interact with these type of people
whom they do not interact earlier. From this prospect, it is concluded that people often hesitate to
interact with other people whom they do not know earlier. In addition, it is also noticed that
while interacting with the people who are unknown or new to the department, the experienced
staff members do not follow the social, behavioral approach (Nowak and Latané, 2018). From
this, it is quite evident that people do not maintained social, behavioral approach while
interacting with the inexperienced or fresher staff members who just joined in their department
of Starbucks. In other words, I have noticed that ten people who knew each other were
maintaining a social, behavioral context while communicating. They used both non-verbal and
verbal mode of communication for sharing their ideas to other people in the same department.

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5. References
Capraro, V., and Cococcioni, G., 2015. Social setting, intuition, and experience in laboratory
experiments interact to shape cooperative decision-making. Proceedings of the Royal Society B:
Biological Sciences, 282(1811), p.20150237.
Nowak, A., and Latané, B., 2018. Simulating the emergence of social order from individual
behavior. In simulating societies (pp. 63-84).