Tutorial 2 - Article 1: Basic Social Influence is Underestimated Flashcards
At what three decision points is the influence of others strong without people recognizing this?
When as observers, as tacticians, and as experts
What is the observer decision point?
When people decide how to interpret the causes of their own actions
What is the tactician decision point?
When people decide how to influence the actions of others
What is the expert decision point?
When people decide whether to seek input of others
How do people ignore or underestimate the impact of others on their actions?
They are often unaware of how (similar) actions by others shape and guide their own actions
What is an example of an observer decision point? (how actions of others influence a person’s actions)
The street musician experiment (a confederate would put money in the hat, which would result to many more donations compared to no confederate doing so)
What is noticeable about the awareness of people in the observer role affected by others’ actions?
They are most often unaware of the influence the actions of others had, and do not see this as the cause of their own action. They will give other causes
What are other examples of the observer role and the influence of actions of others?
- Reasons for energy conservation (people would not rate actions of others as important influences/reasons, but the belief that others were conserving energy correlated highly with reported energy savings)
- Energy conservation doorlabels (labels claiming that energy conservation was common in their neighborhood had most effect, despite residents claiming them to have the least effect)
How do people underestimate the impact others’ behavior can have on target audiences? (role as tacticians)
Others’ behavior can have a persuasive impact on the choice of a target audience
What is an example of the impact of others’ behavior on the choices of a target audience?
Signs about theft of petrified wood at the arizona petrified forest national park would normalize unwanted activity
What does the difference between the single thief and many thieves signs in the petrified forest experiment imply?
When people see warnings of ‘many thieves’, they are more likely to also engage in theft, because it normalizes the behavior more than portraying a single thief (the ‘so many people do it, it doesn’t matter if I do it to’ idea)
What is the flipside idea to the ‘single thief’ vs ‘many thieves’ backfire?
You can also turn it around. Instead of using ‘many people are harming the environment’ to ‘many people are helping to preserve the environment’
What is an example of the flipside effect of ‘single thief’ vs ‘many thieves’ idea?
The hotel doorcards; where ‘join your fellow citizens in helping to save the environment’ was much more effective than ‘help save the environment’ or other ‘singular sentences’
How do people underestimate others’ input as experts?
When people are experts, they overestimate their own capabilities and underestimate how others (with lower skill levels or knowledge) would be able to improve decisions
What is an example of underestimating others’ input as experts?
Rosalind Franklin. She was the smartest in the room, but rarely sought advice.
