obedience: social impact theory Flashcards
who developed this theory?
Bibb Latane
what does this theory describe?
how our behaviour impacts each other through ongoing interactions
what is the source?
person doing the influencing
what is the target?
people who are influenced
what is the formula for his theory?
impact on target=f(SIN)
SIN= sources
what are the 3 things the formula indicates will predict how much change is seen?
- strength
- immediacy
- number
what is strength?
perceived authority of the source
what is immediacy?
closeness of the source and target
what is number?
how many sources there are
what is the multiplicative effect?
explains how s,i and n of sources can increase social impact
EG. lightbulb analogy
what is the divisional effect?
social impact is reduced if there are more targets than sources
what is the law of diminishing terms?
if the source group is bigger than 3, each additional person has less of an influencing effect
supporting evidence?
study by Jackson in a zoo where visitors were asked not to lean against the railing
they found?
-60% obedience when dressed as zoo keeper
-35% obedience when wearing t-shirt and shorts
-60% same room, 7% in adjacent (immediacy)
obedience greater in smaller groups (60%) than groups of 5-6 (15%)
competing argument?
field experiment, researchers unable to manipulate number of people in each group
> threatens internal validity
EG. people might have less obedient personalities (confounding variable) in larger groups so size does not work alone
weakness?
immediacy may not be key ingredient
STUDY
Hofling- doctor called 22 nurses to administrate overdose of a drug not on their ward list over the phone
what did hofling find?
95% administrated drug
SO,
source being absent should’ve reduced effect, but didn’t and nurses obeyed without question
application?
politics
- increase influence by adopting persuasive style of communication
- aiming to reach voters face to face than through TV
- addressing smaller groups, where divisional effect might reduce impact of message
ISSUES AND DEBATES?
reductionist
-reduces complexity of thoughts and experiences to 3 numbers to predict outcomes
-strength is subjective to the individual sources and targets
SO,
may be better to gather qualitative data to understand how s and t perceive each other
