obedience: social impact theory

Question 1

who developed this theory?

Answer 1

Bibb Latane

Question 2

what does this theory describe?

Answer 2

how our behaviour impacts each other through ongoing interactions

Question 3

what is the source?

Answer 3

person doing the influencing

Question 4

what is the target?

Answer 4

people who are influenced

Question 5

what is the formula for his theory?

Answer 5

impact on target=f(SIN)

SIN= sources

Question 6

what are the 3 things the formula indicates will predict how much change is seen?

Answer 6

1. strength
2. immediacy
3. number

Question 7

what is strength?

Answer 7

perceived authority of the source

Question 8

what is immediacy?

Answer 8

closeness of the source and target

Question 9

what is number?

Answer 9

how many sources there are

Question 10

what is the multiplicative effect?

Answer 10

explains how s,i and n of sources can increase social impact
EG. lightbulb analogy

Question 11

what is the divisional effect?

Answer 11

social impact is reduced if there are more targets than sources

Question 12

what is the law of diminishing terms?

Answer 12

if the source group is bigger than 3, each additional person has less of an influencing effect

Question 13

supporting evidence?

Answer 13

study by Jackson in a zoo where visitors were asked not to lean against the railing

Question 14

they found?

Answer 14

-60% obedience when dressed as zoo keeper
-35% obedience when wearing t-shirt and shorts
-60% same room, 7% in adjacent (immediacy)
obedience greater in smaller groups (60%) than groups of 5-6 (15%)

Question 15

competing argument?

Answer 15

field experiment, researchers unable to manipulate number of people in each group
> threatens internal validity
EG. people might have less obedient personalities (confounding variable) in larger groups so size does not work alone

Question 16

weakness?

Answer 16

immediacy may not be key ingredient
STUDY
Hofling- doctor called 22 nurses to administrate overdose of a drug not on their ward list over the phone

Question 17

what did hofling find?

Answer 17

95% administrated drug
SO,
source being absent should’ve reduced effect, but didn’t and nurses obeyed without question

Question 18

application?

Answer 18

politics

• increase influence by adopting persuasive style of communication
• aiming to reach voters face to face than through TV
• addressing smaller groups, where divisional effect might reduce impact of message

Question 19

ISSUES AND DEBATES?

Answer 19

reductionist
-reduces complexity of thoughts and experiences to 3 numbers to predict outcomes
-strength is subjective to the individual sources and targets
SO,
may be better to gather qualitative data to understand how s and t perceive each other