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 sourcesvstargets in a group. eg 1 teacher 29 kids.
multiplication of impact?
all factors have a multiplicative effect on socialimpact 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 peerslowersobedience
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 authorityfigure 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 casuallydressedzookeeper.
ignores individual differences, why are some moreresistant 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 mathematicalformula can be considered reductionist.Formula attempts to explain complexsocial behaviour using maths.
applications?
using a formula means it can predict how people will behave under certainconditions
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