social impact theory Flashcards
what is social impact theory?
an explanation of the extent to which other people’s real or imagined presence can alter the way an individual acts or thinks.
who developed social impact theory?
Bibb Latene (1981)
what are the sources and targets?
the source is the person who is doing the influencing and the target is the person/people who are being influenced.
what was the formula to present the theory of sources and targets?
Impact on target = F(SIN)[where SIN refers to the source]
S= STRENGTH
I = IMMEDIACY
N= NUMBER
what is strength?
refers to the perceived power or authority of the source and the messages that they convey.
- strength can be affected by socio-economic status, age, relationship with the target
what is immediacy?
reflects the physical closeness of the source and target in terms of SPACE and TIME
- physical barriers will also affect the immediacy
what is number?
relates to how many sources are present during the interaction
- increase in number = increase in obedience (in most cases)
what is the multiplicative effect?
this is used to explain how increasing strength, immediacy and number of sources can significantly increase the social impact. a lightbulbs brightness is affected by:
strength of the bulb
how far away the light is
the number of bulbs
what is the divisional effect?
explains the idea that social impact is reduced if there are more targets than there are sources
- the impact is divided between the targets,
reducing the impact.
Impact on target = F(1/(SIN))
what is the law of diminishing returns?
LATANE made a point that once a group of sources is bigger than three, each additional person has less of an impact. adding 1 to a group of 99 will have less of an impact on the target than adding 1 to a group of 3.
what is a strength of SIN
it is supported by research evidence. Jackson and Sedikides (1990) conducted a field experiment at New York Zoo where visitors were asked not to lean on the railings.
- when dressed as a zoo keeper it was 58% OBEDIENCE whereas as a regular person it was 35% OBEDIENCE (strength)
- when in the same room it was 61% and in the adjacent room it was 7% (immediacy)
- a smaller group of visitors (60%) whereas a bigger group (14%) (number)
what is the competing argument
it was a field experiment as so they could not manipulate the number the people in each group which threatens INTERNAL VALIDITY
- people in smaller groups may be more obedient than those in larger groups
weakness of SIN
the role of immediacy may not be as important
- Hofling (1966) had an unknown doctor call 22 nurses and ask then each to administer an overdose of a drug and 95% obeyed even though the doctor was not immediately present.
application of SIN
SIN could be easily applied to understand how people enhance their social influence
- political leaders may increase their influence by adopting a strong style of communication for their supporters, by reaching their supporters face to face rather than on TV and addressing smaller groups.
how is SIN reductionist?
SIN reduces the complexity of human thoughts and feelings to THREE NUMBERS to predict outcomes which is arguably difficult because strength of a source is SUBJECTIVE to the target.
