Social influence.html

Social influence occurs when an individual's thoughts or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.¹

Compliance is public conformity, while keeping one's own private beliefs.
Identification is conforming to someone who is liked and respected, such as a celebrity or a favorite uncle.
Internalization is acceptance of the belief or behavior and conforming both publicly and privately.

Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard described two psychological needs that lead humans to conform to the expectations of others. These include our need to be right (informational social influence), and our need to be liked (normative social influence).² In terms of Kelman's typology, normative influence leads to public compliance, whereas informational influence leads to private acceptance.

1 Types
2 Social trends
3 See also
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links

Types

Charisma

Social influence can also be described as power - the ability to influence a person/group of people to one's own will. Usually people who possess beauty, significant sums of money, good jobs and so on will possess social influence on other, "ordinary" people. So even if the person doesn't possess any "real" or political power but possesses the things listed above (good looks, money, etc.), he could persuade other people into doing something. However, good looks are not solely why attractive people are able to exert more influence than average looking people, e.g. confidence is the by-product of good looks. Therefore, the individual's self-esteem and perceived Persona is the critical factor in determining the amount of influence one exerts.

A popular case involving social influence is the one directed by Charles Manson, who had led a group of allies to murder many people. This case ended with his imprisonment, although it is often wondered how Manson had managed to direct his "Family" so well.

Reputation

Those perceived as experts may exert social influence as a result of their perceived expertise. This involves credibility, a form of social influence from which one draws upon the notion of trust. People believe an individual to be credible for a variety of reasons, such as perceived experience, attractiveness, etc.

Bully pulpit

Those with access to the media may use this access in an attempt to influence the public. For example, a politician may use speeches to persuade the public to support issues that he or she does not have the power to impose on the public. This is often referred to as using the "bully pulpit".

Another example would be movie stars, who do not usually possess any political power but are familiar to many of the world's citizens and therefore possess social status. They get a lot of media coverage and they have many enthusiastic fans.

Peer pressure

In the case of peer pressure, a person is convinced to do something (such as illegal drugs) which they might not want to do, but which they perceive as "necessary" to upkeep a positive relationship with other people, such as the friends.

Social trends

In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell discusses the way new ideas are transmitted by social influence. New products or fashions are introduced by innovators, who tend to be creative and nonconforming. Then early adopters join in, followed by the early majority. By this time, a substantial number of people are using the idea or product, and normative and informational influence encourages others to conform as well. The early majority is followed by a second group that Gladwell calls the late majority, and then finally by the laggards, who tend to be highly conventional and resistent to change.³

References

^ Kelman, H. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1, 51-60.
^ Deutsch, M. & Gerard, H. B. (1955). A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgment. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51, 629-636.
^ Gladwell, M. (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, first published by Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-31696-2

External links

Influence At Work, Robert Cialdini's official web site, and Influence at Work: UK in the United Kingdom
5 Ways to be Influential Article is on a Canadian politics website.
Working Psychology Website A webpage written by a professor at University of Southern California, devoted to social influence.