Social impact theory Flashcards
What is social impact theory?
Latane 1981
What does this theory explain?
It looks at the functioning of individuals in the presence of others and how this can influence their attitudes. It can be applied to obedience, but is not an obedience theory.
What is the source?
The person affecting the other person.
What is a target?
The people/person influenced.
What are the three laws of behaviour?
Social force
Psychosocial law
Divisions of impact
What is social force?
The pressure that gets placed onto people to change their behaviour. It can be generated by persuasion, threat, embarrassment, etc.
What are the three factors that the impact of this influence depends on?
Number
Strength
Immediacy (proximity)
What is strength?
How much power you think the person influencing you has. This can be determined by status and how important the influencing group of people is to you.
What is immediacy?
How psychologically, socially or physically close to the target, the source is.
What is numbers?
The amount of sources applying social force.
What does strength explain?
Source of high power/status = more likely to be influenced by them.
What is likely when members of a group with similar views?
When the target sees the other members of a group as competent, then they are more likely to give in and conform in their views and judgments.
When is compliance more likely?
When the sources enhance their strength by making the target feel obligated to the source- by wearing uniforms or bragging about their important affiliations and who they are associated with.
What does immediacy explain?
Source closer = more likely to be influenced by them.
What does numbers explain?
If there are numerous sources, we are more likely to be influenced by them. However, the more targets there are, the less impact the target may have.
What is psychosocial law?
The idea that the first source of influence has the most dramatic impact on people, but that the second, third, fourth, etc sources generate less and less social force.
Divisions of impact
This is a reduction in the feelings of personal responsibility when in the presence of others as social force gets spread out between all the people it is directed at. If all the force is directed at a single person, that puts a huge pressure on them to conform or obey. But if the force is directed at two people, they only experience half as much pressure each.
Diffusion of responsibility
The more of you there are, the less personal
responsibility each of you will feel. Latané has an equation for this: i = f (1/SIN)
Evidence
Application
Credibility
How good is the research
