W1 - Influence Flashcards
what is social influence?
influence of a person’s attitude or behaviour by another person / persons
- it has a wide variety of forms
- obedience/ conformity/ social loafing
- think of Milgram’s shock experiment w/ authority
What does Milgram’s experiment and studies of obedience show?
how willing humans are to follow orders of those in authority
How does obedience link to social influence
we can be influenced to do things we know are wrong due to a form of social pressure
social influence can take the form of conformity - such as the bystander effect (doing nothing because no one else is doing smth)
social influence in the form of obedience, conformity or bystander effect are examples of automatic social influence
what is automatic social influence
when people are influenced by others automatically they are not aware it is happening
aka implicit social influence
usually take a long amount of time to change with the forming of new habits
what is controlled social influence
this is the opposite of automatic
individuals are aware of the influence attempt and will pay attention to the message
aka explicit social influence
verbalised explicit attitudes can change with persuasion or education
what is the dual process model
this is both automatic and controlled model coming together
this approach forms the basis of the nudge theory
what is the nudge theory
this approach proposes that automatic decisions can be systematically triggered to produce certain outcomes.
nudges are small changes in environment that are easy and inexpensive to implement and can influence behaviour in a predictable way
(look at photo)
linking influence to OD
OD is about increasing effectiveness through leveraging human capital in the company
a key part of leveraging human capital is through influence
it is about trying to change employees behaviour and attitudes to align with the goals of the company
from day one an employee will be influenced by those around them
leaders role effects influence
leaders want to encourage followers to act in a way that benefits them and the company
effective ethical leadership includes role modelling ethical behaviour and acting with respect and care for others
research shows that if a leader is viewed as moral employees are more likely to behave ethically themselves
team collaboration effects influence
working with others will influence employees
social norms are a key factor of influence - provide clues on what behaviour is acceptable or not (if everybody is doing it I can too)
may conform to social norms of the workplace
research shows that other workers acting unethically makes unethical decisions more likely
what is TPB model?
it is a model for predicting behaviour
(look at diagram)
starts with
- definition of the behaviour in interest
- the behaviours target
- action involved
- context in which it occurs
- time frame
once the behaviour has been defined the model can be used to predict behaviour using three types of belief that affect intention:
- behavioural beliefs
- normative beliefs
- control beliefs
behavioural intention / belief
this is the intention to perform the behaviour
stronger the intention the more likely the behaviour will follow
many reasons can prevent people from acting on intentions
- money
- time
- resources
the greater the individuals control over their behaviour the more likely it is that the intention will be carried out
predictors of intentions
behavioural intentions are determined by three factors
- attitude toward the behaviour
- subjective norm concerning the behaviour
- perceived behavioural control
attitudes towards the behaviour
refers to the degree to which a person has a favourable or unfavourable evaluation of the behaviour of interest
performing the behaviour will come out with a positive or negative outcome which produce a positive or negative attitude towards the behaviour
subjective norm
whether most people approve or disapprove of the behaviour
2 types of subjective norm:
- injunctive
- descriptive
injunctive is the approval or disapproval from a close individual to perform the behaviour interest
descriptive are behaviours likely to be performed by themselves
perceived behavioural control
a persons perception of how easy or difficult performing the behaviour will be
control factors include:
- skills
- time
- money
how can interventions motivate individuals to engage in the desired behaviour
- can influence behavioural or normative beliefs leading to more favourable attitude towards the behaviour, increasing motive
- can increase perceived behavioural control and elevate the effects of attitude towards the behaviour
- can change the importance of attitude and subjective norm
why do people conform?
- to fit in and be liked (normative influence)
- desire to be right and have lack of knowledge (informational influence)
negatives of conformity in the workplace
- low levels of creativity (everyones doing the same thing)
- can lead to unethical or negative behaviours at work (copy other behaviours)
obedience in the workplace
- workers tend to obey those who have authority
- leaders can influence by using their positional power to gain obedience
(think zimbardo and prison)
outcomes of obedience in authority
- resistance from those who don’t want to comply with new behaviours (reactance theory - when someones freedom is of high importance they will react greater)
- compliance from those who don’t want to do behaviour but they do
- commitment from those who agree but also support the behaviour
persuasion in the organisation
persuasion is the process where a person’s attitudes are influences by communications from others
underlying mechanisms used in persuasion:
- reciprocity - people are obliged to give back what they have received (David Strohmetz et al, 2002 - left candies at a diner the more candies the more the tips increased)
- scarcity - people want more of the things they get less of - providing access to information that limited ppl know about creates a sense of exclusiveness which can be seen as a favour to an individual
- authority - people follow the lead of a credible and knowledgable individual
- consistency - people feel pressure to be consistent within their own words and actions (Freedman & Fraser 1966 - people were more likely to put up billboards in their gardens if they had shown their support for the drive safely campaign the week before - the initial commitment to he cause)
Druckman (2022) persuasion framework
- Actors - refer to the people involved, either speakers or receivers (direct/indirect/motivation/ attitudes)
- treatments - refer to the message itself and includes the topic, the message content and the medium
- outcomes - refer to the effects that the persuasion attempt has which includes change sin attitudes, behaviour and emotion
- settings - refers to the context in which a message is delivered, involving many aspects such as space, time, culture, competition
interpersonal influence tactics
categorised in to hard and soft tactics
hard tactics threaten the autonomy of the target - get someone to do smth by ‘pushing’ them in that direction
- controlling and coercive
soft tactics use integration and rationality they share large amounts of freedom and the target is allowed to choose whether they want to comply
- soft tactics are more effective
