Social Impact Theory

Question 1

Background

Answer 1

Developed by Latane (1981) to explain why people conform in some situations and not others

Question 2

Social forces

Answer 2

The influence/pressure of someone’s social group on their behaviour

Question 3

Strength

Answer 3

The intensity of the social force, which reflects things like status, power and credibility. The more important the people/ group are to the individual the more influence they will have

Question 4

Immediacy

Answer 4

How close the group is to you in space when they are trying to influence you

Question 5

Number

Answer 5

The more people present the more influence they will have on an individual

Question 6

Crutchfield (1956)

Answer 6

Found that putting people into booths to reduce immediacy led to a reduction in conformity

Question 7

Divisional effect

Answer 7

Where the force is split between many targets - the more targets, the harder to influence

Question 8

Multiplicative effect

Answer 8

The more people you add, the more influential they are e.g Milgram, Bickman & Berkowitz

Question 9

Milgram, Bickman & Berkowitz (1969)

Answer 9

• Has between 1 & 15 confederates standing in a street looking up at the 6th floor of a building
• They recorded how many normal people looked up
• 1 confederate = 42%
• 15 confederates = 86%
• With each additional person the % increase got smaller

Question 10

How does Milgram’s variations support this theory?

Answer 10

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