Rich plays sport every day. The obsession that started with…

Question Answered step-by-step Rich plays sport every day. The obsession that started with… Rich plays sport every day. The obsession that started with football has branched out into, at various times, cricket, tennis and squash. In fact, the need to play some sort of competitive sport means that days off become tedious, frustrating affairs. Rich will happily skip a lecture to play in a university football league, especially the 11-a-side league on a Wednesday afternoon, which Rich insists on keeping free. The original team that Rich played for has become his closest circle of friends, and they always celebrate an important victory with a heavy night out, with the importance of the health benefits of sport relegated to a poor second against the joys of a great team spirit. Recently Rich decided he needed new football boots, since the ends of his trusty Pumas had both split open, letting in rain, mud and whatever else had gotten onto the football pitch. He has also got a bit sick of his mates telling him he looks like he is wearing tramp’s shoes; in the university matches there was a certain amount of prestige to be upheld. Since he has had the Pumas so long, however, he feels he deserves some expensive boots. Rich’s mates don’t have many positive things to say about Nike football boots. His friend Pete had bought the same boots as Thierry Henry wore, Nike Vapours, which were incredibly light. However, Pete found they did not offer him as much support as he wanted, so Rich decided Nike was probably out for him as well. He wanted to get some Puma boots but there wasn’t a great variety. So that left Reebok or Adidas, but he knew that Reebok seemed primarily to be focused on basketball and American football, so their boots probably wouldn’t suit him either. Adidas represented his final choice (there was no point even considering other brands which his mates would start ribbing him about). The next decision was whether or not to get screw-in studs or moulded studs. Screw-ins invariably fell out in Rich’s experience however much you tightened them, whereas moulded studs stayed in and looked pretty flashy as well. However, Rich had seen fellow team-mates with moulded studs falling over constantly on wet, muddy pitches, and since English pitches were frequently muddy Rich decided he had to go for screw-ins, despite the fact he would have to buy a set of replacement studs. The only thing Rich had to do now was to buy the flashiest pair that none of his mates had so that he could impress them. After all, you want to stand out in the crowd, to be individual and different, but maybe not too different…Questions1. . what forms of reference group influence are illustrated in this situation.2. What is the type of reference group influence in this situation? Argue.3. . Did word-of-mouth communication influence in this situation? Argue.4. Is there a presence of an opinion leadership in this situation? Argue. Social Science Psychology ECON 101 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)