Oklahoma Social Studies PS.5.2
The Standard
- PS.5
- Examine social influences on mental processes and behavior, as well as the human personality.
Examine various types of social influence, including intergroup dynamics, persuasion, attraction, aggression, and altruism.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · PS.5
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how groups and other people can shape someone’s choices. They use everyday examples to identify persuasion, liking, aggression, and helping without expecting a reward.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a school scenario, students name the influences at work and point to actions or words that support each choice. They explain how being part of a group can affect behavior without assuming every group member acts alike.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think attraction only means romance, not friendship or liking. They may mistake a disagreement for aggression or a favor done for a promised reward for altruism. Some assume all members of a group think alike.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: “A friend asks a student to join a rival club’s unpaid cleanup, even though teammates mock that club.” Name two influences in the story and cite a detail for each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Print cards showing rival teams, a campaign poster, new friends, a shove, and a donated lunch; have students sort them by influence and cite clues.
Ask students to write: Why might someone accept a friend’s request to help another club but reject the same request from a rival?
Play scenario swap: pairs write a three-line hallway conflict, trade papers, and label the aggressive act and a response that avoids aggression.
Show a school food drive flyer and ask students how its wording might persuade donors and whether an anonymous donation counts as altruism.
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Printable PS.5.2 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- S.5.6
Examine the extent to which individual and group responses influence potential resolutions to social problems.
- PS.5
Examine social influences on mental processes and behavior, as well as the human personality.
- S.4.4
Examine the benefits of belonging to social groups, as well as the power of social groups over behavior and attitudes.
- PS.6.4
Examine the influence of the social situation on individual behavior and mental processes, including persuasion, conformity and obedience.
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