social impact theory

Cards (9)

  • made by?
    Latane (1981). suggested alternate explanation for why people obey
  • what factors increase a response to social influence?
    • strength= determined by status, authority, age. eg police officer/teacher.
    • immediacy= distance between source and target at time of influence attempt. eg over the phone vs in a classroom
    • number=how many sources vs targets in a group. eg 1 teacher 29 kids.
  • multiplication of impact?
    all factors have a multiplicative effect on social impact up to a point.
    • increasing authority figure from 2-3 has large effect, 5-6 won't have as much of an impact.
  • division of impact?
    social influence becomes weaker.
    • authority power would be diminished if targets had an ally. EG Milgram variation, 2 peers rebelled against instructions, meaning presence of peers lowers obedience
  • mathematical model?
    i=f(SIN)
    • i= magnitude of impact
    • f= function
    • s, i, n= strength, immediacy, number
  • evidence?
    • studies from Milgram and Latane provide evidence.
    • Milgrams variation where 2 peers rebelled against instructions of authority figure asking to adminster shocks, presence of peer lowered obedience to 10%. division of impact demonstrated.
    • variation 7= proximity is important factor, also supports SIT.
    • Sedikides and Jackson (90) people obey zookeeper when not to lean on railings in uniform compared to casually dressed zookeeper.
    • ignores individual differences, why are some more resistant to social impact?
    • doesn't explain why people are influenced by others.
  • methodology?
    • lab and field experiments used to develop theory(Milgrams variation or Latane), which increases scientific credibility as controls put in place
    • analysing obedience behaviour using mathematical formula can be considered reductionist. Formula attempts to explain complex social behaviour using maths.
  • applications?
    • using a formula means it can predict how people will behave under certain conditions
    • theory will be reliable if same measurements are put into formula, same predictions will emerge.
    • can be criticised for being static and not dynamic, doesn't take into account how target and source interact with each other or what target brings to situation.
    • theory is limited in type of social situation it is able to explain, cannot predict what might happen when two equal groups impact on one another
  • alternate theory?
    agency theory