social impact theory

who proposed social impact theory?

bibb latane

what are the two categories of people in social impact theory

- source (of social influence)
- target (of social influence)

what three laws/rules did latané suggest in SIT?

- social force (SIN)
- psychosocial law
- division of impact

what is social force, what factors is the effect of it dependant on?

the effect that other people have on a persons attitudes and behaviour dependant on the factors of **strength, immediacy and numbers (SIN)**

conformity will increase when the \_____ increases

- the strength of the source
- the immediacy of the source
- the number of sources and targets

describe strength in social force

when a source is perceived as having power they have a greater influence on target(s) behaviour

what are the two types of strength in social force?

- trans situational
- situation specific

what is meant by trans situational strength in social impact theory

strength that is universally perceived across situations eg age, appearance

what is meant by situation specific strength in social impact theory

strength perceived in relation to a situation eg, you got o a doctor for medical advice, less likely to take their advice interior design/something they don't specialise in

describe immediacy in social force

how recent the influence is and how close to you, when the source is physically in close proximity or a command more recent **(temporal immediacy)** there is a greater influence on behaviour than when the source is further away or longer ago

describe number in social force

targets are more likely to be influenced by numerous sources, as the number of sources increases, so too does the social impact
(increased influence with numbers only goes up to a certain point \[**psychosocial law**\])

what is psychosocial law?

psychosocial law states that at some point, the number of sources has less of an effect on the target(s), influence tends to significantly increase up until about 5 or 6 sources, once past that the difference in impact increases but at a decreasing rate

what are targets and sources in terms of social impact theory?

- sources: those who provide the influence
- targets: those who are the influenced

what is division of impact?

when there are a number of target individuals, the influence or impact of the source is diffused, or divided and there is less impact on each of the individual targets

what does division of impact lead to?

division of responsibility, the more people there are, the less personal responsibility each of the people involved will feel which may lead to the bystander effect

strengths of social impact theory

- corroborating studies
- milgram's variations (1973)
- sedikides & jackson (1990)
- bickman (1974)

how do milgram's variations (1973) support social impact theory?

- divisional effect (one source multiple targets): where disobedient confeds refused to continue, the presence of social support reduced the level of obedience to 10%
- immediacy: telephonic instructions 22% went to 450v
- strength of source: ordinary man 20% went to 450v

sedikides & jackson (1990)

confed told groups of visitors not to lean on the railings near the bird cages, confederate in uniform of a zookeeper \= high obedience, dressed casually \= lower, shows strength of social force + after time visitors started ignoring the instruction not to lean on the railing

bickman (1974)

people in different scenarios obeyed guards orders more than a civilian or milkman when asked to do tasks such as pick up a paper bag or give a dime to a man that couldn't pay at the parking metre (relates to strength of source) but does not account for immediacy and number

weaknesses of social impact theory

- static rather than dynamic theory - it doesn't say how target and source interact with one another
- more descriptive than explanatory
- reductionist theory, breaks down complex human behaviours into 3 parts and ignores personal dispositions