Minority influence and musical preference: Innovation by conversion not coercion

Studied the effect of social categorization, strength of influence and predisposition to influence on social influence concerning musical preferences. One-hundred and sixty-eight French adolescents (age 15 years) were assigned to the eight conditions of a 2 (social categorization: majority/minority) × 2 (strength of influence: strong/weak) × 2 (predisposition to influence: pervious/impervious) design. Influence source was an opinion poll based on pupils from two types of secondary school. Direct influence was exerted from ‘hard-rock’ to ‘new wave’ music; indirect influence was measured by subjects' preferences for hard-rock versus ‘contemporary’ music. Ratings of the source were also elicited. Analyses of variance revealed indirect influence to be significantly greater with the minority than the majority source (p < 0.02). Indirect influence was especially high for subjects with a clear predisposition to influence and when the influence was weak (p < 0.0005). Further analyses confirmed the effect to be due to the actual numbers of subjects influenced. The study thus demonstrated the generalizability of the ‘conversion’ notion (minority influence on an indirect level) from numerical to social minorities.     

Individualism-Collectivism as a Boundary Condition for Effectiveness of Minority Influence in Decision Making

Results of this experiment demonstrate that individualists and collectivists react differently to minority influence. Based on the distinction between objectivity and preference norms in the minority influence literature, we hypothesize that individualism and collectivism influence (A) responses to minority influence (focusing on the target of influence) and (B) effectiveness of minority influence (focusing on the influence agent). Our results replicate past research and demonstrate improved decision quality for individuals exposed to a minority perspective. Moreover, minority influence targets with high horizontal individualism and low horizontal collectivism made higher quality decisions. Influence targets with high vertical collectivism demonstrated higher quality decisions when the influence agent held a high status position in the group. Results also demonstrate that influence agents with high vertical individualism experienced less role stress than those with low vertical individualism. Finally, influence agents with low role stress were more effective in influencing the decision making of others. We discuss our findings in terms of boundary conditions to the minority influence process.     

组织情境中的影响策略研究述评

影响策略是指个体采取的旨在使他人态度和行为产生预期改变的行为方式。组织情境下的影响策略受动机、场控制和自我监控等因素的影响,对工作绩效、薪酬、晋升和一些积极组织行为有显著的预测作用。本文侧重介绍了影响策略的结构、测量、前因后果变量以及跨文化研究等方面内容,总结了已有研究为管理实践提供的有价值参考,并指出研究方法的有效互补、对基层职员影响策略的关注和基于中国人行为观念的本土化研究是今后探讨的主要方向。     

Positive and Negative Peer Influence in Residential Care

The potential for negative peer influence has been well established in research, and there is a growing interest in how positive peer influence also impacts youth. No research, however, has concurrently examined positive and negative peer influence in the context of residential care. Clinical records for 886 residential care youth were used in a Hierarchical Linear Model analysis to examine the impact of negative and positive peer influence on naturally occurring patterns of serious problem behavior over time. Negative peer influence, where the majority of youth in a home manifested above the average number of serious behavior problems, occurred 13.7% of the time. Positive peer influence, where the majority of youth manifested no serious problem behaviors for the month, occurred 47.7% of the time. Overall, youth problem behavior improved over time. There were significantly lower rates of serious problem behavior in target youth during positive peer influence months. Conversely, there were significantly higher rates of serious problem behaviors in target youth during negative peer influence months. Negative peer influence had a relatively greater impact on target peers’ serious behavior problems than did positive peer influence. Caregiver experience significantly reduced the impact of negative peer influence, but did not significantly augment positive peer influence. Months where negative peer influence was combined with inexperienced caregivers produced the highest rates of serious problem behavior. Our results support the view that residential programs for troubled youth need to create circumstances that promote positive and control for negative peer influence.     

Strategies of influence in close relationships

In this study, we examined how close relationship partners spontaneously influence each other while they discussed an existing problem in their relationship. According to theories of social influence, people in important, self-defining relationships should experience the relationship itself as a potent source of influence. Thus, they are likely to rely on the relationship as a source of power and to use influence strategies that reference relationship norms and values. Consistent with this reasoning, dating partners who were subjectively closer to their partners/relationships were more likely to reference the relationship in their influence attempts than those who were less subjectively close. Furthermore, referencing the relationship was an effective influence strategy. Greater referencing was associated with opinion shifts during discussions for both agents and targets of influence, with each compromising toward the other's position. In contrast, greater use of negative coercion as an influence strategy (e.g., derogation of the partner or punishment) was associated with less compromise.     

Which influence tactics lead to sales performance? It is a matter of style

The application of influence is a key behaviour set at the heart of the sales role. But we know little about how or whether influence tactics affect salespeople's actual job performance. We extend existing research on salespeople's use of influence by: (1) showing that influence tactics can be used to predict objective sales performance (and delineating which tactics are most predictive); (2) demonstrating that the effect of tactics on performance varies across salespeople, and these patterns of influence effectiveness allow us to identify different influence ‘styles’ and (3) revealing that the influence styles our data uncover are not consistent with existing theoretical classifications of influence tactics. The article concludes with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications, and directions for future work.     

中学生对同伴群体和家庭影响力的判断

本研究采用情境故事判断、社会关系网络问卷和访谈法对495名中学生进行了问卷调查,对32名中学生进行了群体访谈,结果表明:1.在“告发同伴错误行为”、同伴中流行的“暗语”、穿同伴中流行服装和听同伴中流行的音乐四个情境中,从初一到高二的青少年学生存在着从接受父母影响向接受同伴群体影响的转变趋势.各情境中,从初二到高一年级是从接受父母影响向接受同伴影响的一个敏感的转变时期.2.随着年龄增长,青少年学生对如何处理社会关系的判断表现出一种水平的演进,起先是在服从权威的水平上,然后逐渐向回避不良后果水平转变,第三种水平表现为工具性地处理社会关系,最后达到协调社会关系的水平.3.同伴交往较多的青少年,大多表现出外倾、人缘好、心地善良、乐于助人等积极的个性特征,表明同伴交往与青少年学生的个性发展有重要的相互影响作用.     

The role of listening in interpersonal influence

Using informant reports on working professionals, we explored the role of listening in interpersonal influence and how listening may account for at least some of the relationship between personality and influence. The results extended prior work which has suggested that listening is positively related to influence for informational and relational reasons. As predicted, we found that: (1) listening had a positive effect on influence beyond the impact of verbal expression, (2) listening interacted with verbal expression to predict influence (such that the relationship between listening and influence was stronger among those more expressive), and (3) listening partly mediated the positive relationships between each of the Big Five dimensions of agreeableness and openness and influence.     

Situating social influence processes: dynamic, multidirectional flows of influence within social networks.

Social psychologists have studied the psychological processes involved in persuasion, conformity, and other forms of social influence, but they have rarely modeled the ways influence processes play out when multiple sources and multiple targets of influence interact over time. However, workers in other fields from sociology and economics to cognitive science and physics have recognized the importance of social influence and have developed models of influence flow in populations and groups-generally without relying on detailed social psychological findings. This article reviews models of social influence from a number of fields, categorizing them using four conceptual dimensions to delineate the universe of possible models. The goal is to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations to build models that incorporate the detailed, microlevel understanding of influence processes derived from focused laboratory studies but contextualized in ways that recognize how multidirectional, dynamic influences are situated in people's social networks and relationships.     

The Rokeach Value Survey and Social Desirability

Abstract

Social influence and social power were examined in two studies. In Study 1, samples of U.S. students who had been presented with randomly ordered lists of 13 influence tactics and power bases predicted the likelihood that an influence agent would use the tactics or power bases, for seven status-differentiated, hypothetical relationships. Lower status agents were perceived to use influence tactics, and higher status agents were perceived to use power bases. In Study 2, female students were assigned either a supervisory role or a subordinate role. The participants in the supervisory and subordinate roles identified power bases or influence tactics that had been rated by the participants in Study 1 as commonly used by higher or lower status influence agents, respectively. The results of the present study seem to support the notion that social influence and social power are separate strategies.     

Attitude change in face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication: private self‐awareness as mediator and moderator

Two types of social influence can be distinguished: norm‐based influence occurs when social identity is salient and interpersonal influence occurs when personal identity is salient. In two experiments the impact of trait and state private self‐awareness on interpersonal influence during face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication (CMC) was investigated. It is argued that interpersonal influence resulting from face‐to‐face communication is stronger than interpersonal influence resulting from CMC because CMC heightens state private self‐awareness. As a result, it leads to a focus on personal perceptions and thoughts which in turn reduces attitude change. Experiment 1 suggests that communication media may influence attitude change via private self‐awareness. Experiment 2 showed that trait private self‐awareness moderates the effect of communication media on interpersonal influence. Interpersonal influence was stronger in face‐to‐face communication than in CMC only for individuals higher in private self‐awareness. This finding indicates that the impact of situational variations of a concept can be limited to individuals who have a more elevated sense of private self‐awareness. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PERCEPTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE: A COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH FOR EXPLAINING MODERATED RELATIONSHIPS

A hypothesis of consistency in cognitive information processing of perceptions of psychological influence (perceived influence of decisions made by a supervisor) was proposed and tested. The hypothesis stated that if (a) having influence was of sufficient importance to a subordinate to effect selective attention to supervisor behaviors that reflected opportunities for influence, then (b) the subordinate would employ perceptions of influence in behavioral decisions (performance) and affective reactions (anxiety, satisfaction). The hypothesis received support in a study of 363 Navy enlisted aircraft maintenance personnel, where selective attentiveness to opportunities for influence was determined by assessing the fit between personal characteristics of a subordinate (e.g., achievement motivation) and the degree of overload in the work environment. Results suggested that relations between perceptions of influence and attitudes/performance should be expected only for those individuals who are attentive to opportunities for influence in the early stages of cognitive processing. Implications of these results for future scientific and professional endeavors are discussed.     

Perceived Influence of Male Sex Role Identity on Female Partner's Life Choices

The relationship between a man's sex role identity and his and his female partner's perceptions of his influence on her life choices was investigated in this study. Sex role identity was measured by the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), and perception of influence was measured by the Interpersonal Influence Survey (IIS). The BSRI and IIS were administered by mail to 131 pairs of female graduate students and their male partners. Male and female perceptions of the man's influence were found to be related to the man's BSRI scores. Masculine men were not found to differ in their perceptions of influence from feminine or un-differentiated men, but they were found to have significantly lower perceptions of their influence than androgynous men. Feminine men were not found to differ in their perceptions of influence from masculine or undifferentiated men, but they were found to be lower in their perceptions of influence than androgynous men. Women with androgynous or feminine male partners perceived the man as being more influential than did female partners of masculine men, but they did not differ in their perceptions of male partner influence from women with undifferentiated male partners. Women with masculine or undifferentiated male partners did not differ in their perceptions of the male partner's influence.     

Affective processing in overwhelmed individuals: Strategic and task considerations

Previous research suggests that emotionally overwhelmed individuals (high affect intensity, intermediate attention to emotions, low clarity of emotions) attempt to counteract the influence of affective information. In five studies (ns=129, 177, 119, 339, 261), the current research found that task performance in overwhelmed individuals varied by current arousal and by whether affective influence occurred on evaluative versus non-evaluative tasks. Overwhelmed high current arousal participants exhibited decreased affective influence on evaluative tasks but increased affective influence on non-evaluative tasks. These results are consistent with the effects of active suppression of affective information, including ironic effects of monitoring for affective information. In contrast, overwhelmed low current arousal participants exhibited increased affective influence on evaluative tasks but decreased affective influence on non-evaluative tasks. These results are consistent with attentional avoidance of affective information. Overall, these results further suggest that overwhelmed individuals attempt to counteract the influence of affective information. Whether they are successful depends on their current arousal and how affect can influence performance.     

Studies in social influence: II. Instrumental and symbolic influence

In this article we have dealt with a critical analysis pertaining to the notion of the informational influence. We hereby show that in every inter-actionary situation, the judgments emitted by the source (influence agent) appear to contain informations on the judged objects from their elementary content and, at the same time, from their organisation, like indications on the source itself, on its purpose. In this manner, we have come to distinguish the instrumental influence from the symbolical influence. An experiment where the subjects have to judge the number of points appearing on the slides shows that this distinction reveals what happens in the process of influence.     

When and how norm violators gain influence: Dominance,prestige, and the social dynamics of (counter)normative behavior

The capacity to influence other people is key to success across domains of life, from personal to professional relationships, from the school yard to the retirement home, and from marketing to politics. Traditional approaches hold that people can gain influence in social collectives by behaving in line with prevailing norms. However, mounting evidence indicates that defying norms can enhance one's power, status, and influence. Here, I take stock of this literature and propose a new perspective that can explain seemingly inconsistent links between norm violation and influence. After discussing various social mechanisms that keep norm violators in check (negative emotions, gossip, social exclusion, formal punishment), I review evidence that violating norms can enhance the capacity for influence. I then integrate insights from the dominance/prestige framework of social rank with research on social responses to norm violations to develop a new model that illuminates when and how norm violators gain influence. I discuss implications for understanding the dynamic negotiation of leadership and influence and the maintenance versus decline of normative systems.     

Factors influencing word naming in younger and older adults

The present study examined age differences in the influence of 3 factors that previous research has shown to influence word-naming performance. The influence of word frequency, orthographic length, and orthographic neighborhood measures was examined using large-scale regression analyses on the naming latencies for 2,820 words. Thirty-one younger adults and 29 older adults named all of these words, and age differences in the influence of these factors were examined. The results revealed that all 3 factors predicted reliable amounts of variance in word-naming latencies for both groups. However, older adults showed a larger influence of word frequency and reduced influences of orthographic length and orthographic neighborhood density compared with younger adults. Overall, these results suggest that lexical level factors increase in influence in older adults whereas sublexical factors decrease in influence.     

The Effects of Caffeine Consumption on Direct and Indirect Majority and Minority Influence

A study is reported that examines the effect of caffeine consumption on majority and minority influence. In a double blind procedure, 72 participants consumed an orange drink, which either contained caffeine (3.5mg per kilogram of body weight) or did not (placebo). After a 40-minute delay, participants read a counter-attitudinal message (antivoluntary euthanasia) endorsed by either a numerical majority or minority. Both direct (message issue, i.e., voluntary euthanasia) and indirect (message issue-related, i.e., abortion) change was assessed by attitude scales completed before and after exposure to the message. In the placebo condition, the findings replicated the predictions of Moscovici's (1980) conversion theory; namely, majorities leading to compliance (direct influence) and minorities leading to conversion (indirect influence). When participants had consumed caffeine, majorities not only led to more direct influence than in the placebo condition but also to indirect influence. Minorities, by contrast, had no impact on either level of influence. The results suggest that moderate levels of caffeine increase systematic processing of the message but the consequences of this vary for each source. When the source is a majority there was increased indirect influence while for a minority there was decreased indirect influence. The results show the need to understand how contextual factors can affect social influence processes.     

A cognitive mediation theory of task goals and human performance

A theory is proposed to explain the linkages between individual task goals and performance. Two cognitive constructs are postulated to mediate between task goals and performance:performance expectancy and performance valence. It is asserted that an individual's task goal has a positive influence on performance expectancy and a negative influence on performance valence. Performance expectancy is proposed to have a positive influence on performance while performance valence is proposed to have a negative influence on performance. Task ability is hypothesized to influence performance both directly and indirectly through its influence on performance expectancy. A laboratory experiment was designed to test the causal model proposed by the theory. A path analysis on the data from this experiment provides strong support for the model, with performance expectancy, performance valence, and task ability predicting 63% of the variance in performance on the laboratory task.     

Représentations sociales et influence sociale

Since content and structure of social representations are determined through communication, their link with the study of social influence should be of relevance. Three research programs are presented. In the tradition of social influence studies, the first one demonstrates that a majority source induces manifest influence on a social representation, whereas influence induced by a minority is latent. Considering an expert source, the second one confirms that high status sources may induce only superficial influence, showing that such dynamics are due to identity stakes. The third one examines the reciprocal influence that social representations may exert on the social influence processes themselves.