Social impact theory

• Strength is the idea that if a source is a legitimate authority figure they will have more influence over targets being obedient.
• Number is the idea that the more sources there are saying the same thing the more likely the target is to obey
• Immediacy is the idea that obedience is higher if the source is a well known to the target (e.g best friend) or in close proximity to the target
• Multiplication effect is the idea that increasing the number strength and immediacy of the source increases the social influence making targets more obedient.
• Sources are the people influencing others - those giving the order
• Targets are those being influenced by sources - those receiving the order
• Law of diminishing returns suggests that each person added has less of an impact when a source group is bigger than 3. For example the difference from 2 to 3 people asking you to do something is larger than the difference of adding an extra person to a group of 52.
• Divisional effect is the idea that obedience levels will reduce if there are more targets than sources