Social Psychology: Obedience & Social Impact Theory

Flashcards on Social Impact Theory, covering definitions, formulas, and research findings.

Who developed the Social Impact Theory?

Latane in 1981

What is the 'source' in Social Impact Theory?

The people doing the impacting.

What is the 'target' in Social Impact Theory?

The person being impacted.

What three factors influence the impact of a source on a target?

Strength, immediacy, and number (SIN).

What is the formula for Social Impact Theory?

i = f (SIN), where i = impact, f = function, S = strength, I = immediacy, N = number.

How is 'strength' defined in Social Impact Theory?

The power and influence held by the source, including trans-situational and situation-specific strength.

How is 'immediacy' defined in Social Impact Theory?

The closeness of the source to the target, including physical, temporal, and social immediacy.

How is 'number' defined in Social Impact Theory?

The number of sources present in a group setting exerting the impact.

What is the multiplicative effect in Social Impact Theory?

Increasing strength, immediacy, and/or number of sources can significantly increase the social impact.

What is the divisional effect in Social Impact Theory?

Social impact is reduced if there are more targets than sources; impact is divided by the number of targets.

What is the equation related to the divisional effect?

i = f (1/SIN)

What does the psychosocial law state about number of influencers?

The number of influencers has less of an effect on the target population once you get to 5 or 6 sources.

What did Sedikides & Jackson's (1990) zoo experiment demonstrate?

Varying Social Force, in particular S (Strength) because of the perceived authority of the confederate.

What did Bassett and Latane (1976) find?

Participants would assign nearby fictitious events in a newspaper more column inches than faraway events, which supports immediacy as a factor affecting obedience.

What was the conclusion of Milgram, Bickman, and Berkowitz’s (1969) study?

The more confederates who looked up to a 6th floor window, caused more passers-by to crane their neck and stare; shows that number of sources could affect obedience.

What is one weakness of the Social Impact Theory?

There are potential negative consequences to society as a form of social control.

According to Milgram, what is the agentic state?

Humans perceive themselves to be the agent of someone else’s will and the authority figure giving commands is believed to be responsible for a person’s actions.

What is one application of Social Impact Theory?

It can be applied to prevent organised crime for example football hooliganism, as SIT provides a mathematical model to provide useful predictive power and reliably uses a formula as a same measurement tool on different populations.