Obedience: Social impact theory

Question 1

What is social impact theory?

Answer 1

A psychological theory that explains how the presence or actions of others can influence an individual’s feelings, thoughts, or behaviours

Question 2

Who introduced social impact theory?

Answer 2

Bibb Latané (1981)

Question 3

Is social impact theory situational or dispositional?

Answer 3

Situational

Question 4

What is meant by a ‘target’?

Answer 4

Those who are influenced/impacted

Question 5

What is meant by a ‘source’?

Answer 5

Those who are doing the influencing/impacting

Question 6

What are the three laws of behaviour according to Latané?

Answer 6

1) Social force
2) Psychosocial law
3) Divisions of impact

Question 7

What are the three components of social force?

Answer 7

• Strength
• Immediacy
• Number

Question 8

What is meant by ‘strength’?

Answer 8

How important the influencing group of people are to you
- status
- authority
- age

Question 9

What is meant by ‘immediacy’?

Answer 9

How close the group/s are to you at the time of the influence
- proximity
- distance
- buffers

Question 10

What is meant by ‘number’?

Answer 10

The amount of sources or targets
- more targets can decrease obedience
- more sources can increase obedience

Question 11

What is the ‘psychosocial law’?

Answer 11

The idea that the first source of influence has the most dramatic impact on people however the second, third, fourth, etc sources generate less and less social impact

Question 12

What is the multiplication of impact?

Answer 12

Increasing strength, immediacy and number of sources can significantly increase the social impact

Question 13

What is the division of impact?

Answer 13

Social impact can be reduced if there are more targets than there are sources

Question 14

What is the ‘law of diminishing returns’?

Answer 14

Once the source group is bigger than 3, each additional person has less of an impact on the target

Question 15

What is a strength of social impact theory?

Answer 15

• Hofling et al (1966): nurses instructed by a ‘doctor’ over the phone to give an unsafe dosage of a medication to a patient. 21/22 followed orders
• supports the importance of strength in social impact theory as nurses believed that the doctor was legitimate
• however does not support the importance of immediacy as orders were given over the phone yet obedience was still high

Question 16

What is a weakness of social impact theory?