Social influence and cultural emergence

General information

What is the difference between social influence and persuasion?

Conformity vs. compliance vs. obedienceSherif, Asch, and Milgram classic studies

◦What made for more conformity/obedience in these?

Informational vs. normative influence

Sherif, 1935 autokinetic effect

alone 1 2 3Number of group members

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Participant 1Participant 2Participant 3

Cialdini’s techniques

InfluenceSix techniques

◦Reciprocity◦Social validation (social comparison theory)◦Consistency (cognitive dissonance theory)◦Liking ◦Scarcity (reactance theory)◦Authority

Examples? Examples not in sales?Does this cover everything?

Evolution and Influence

How could these be evolutionary? What does adding that give us? ◦Goals◦Relationships

Affiliation, accuracy, consistencyWhat techniques would be more or less

effective for the above goals? For strangers vs. children vs. partners?

Social norms and influence

Focus theory of normative conduct (Cialdini, Kallgren, & Reno, 1991)◦Injunctive vs. descriptive norms◦Attention◦How do injunctive vs. descriptive norms differ?

Focus theory

How does this approach explain why people only sometimes follow norms? Why they follow one vs. another norm?

When will descriptive vs. injunctive norms be most effective?

What norms do people follow (norms of whom)?

Social marketing

Examples of effective vs. ineffective campaigns?

What should we do to make people more aware of climate change or get them to take action (e.g., drive less), according to this approach?

What does this approach suggest about social norms marketing campaigns/pluralistic ignorance?

Shariff, Norenzayan, & Henrich, 2010

What purposes do religions (and what parts of them) serve, according to them?

What are the 4 C’s of religion? How common are they in the major

religions?

How did beliefs in “high gods” come about, according to them?

What about cultures that don’t have high gods?

How did the particular elements of different religions evolve?

What does this approach suggest about atheists?

Cultural emergence

What is culture according to DSIT? Culture vs. evolution◦How does evolution relate to culture? ◦According to DSIT?◦According to Shariff, Norenzayan, & Henrich?

Bottom up vs. top down

Background approaches

Social impact theory (Latané, 1981)◦What are the 3 factors?◦What does it mean to have a multiplicative

function? A marginally decreasing effect?Catastrophe theory of attitudes (Latané &

Nowak, 1994)◦Involving vs. uninvolving attitudes

Dynamic social impact theory (Latané, 1996)

What are the 4 C’s of culture? What do each of them mean? How/why do they come about? ◦Clustering◦Correlation◦Consolidation◦Continuing diversity

What types of studies have shown support for DSIT?◦Other examples?

Memes and cultural evolution

What things are more likely to be passed on?◦Involvement◦Heritability◦Chip Heath’s research

Memorability Surprise Emotions (esp. disgust) Ease of communication Push for novelty Establishment of social identity Cultural exchange

How do these relate to what culture is? How do things get passed on, according to DSIT?

DSIT issues

How does modernization affect DSIT predictions?

How do individual differences fit in? What new directions are there to be tested

with DSIT?Are all the assumptions of DSIT supported? Are there other explanations for the DSIT

study results? Are there other problems with this approach? Is it consistent with evolutionary approaches?

Are there regional differences within countries?

Regional patterns of collectivism in the United States

Vandello, J. A., & Cohen, D. (1999). Patterns of individualism and collectivism across the United States. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(2), 279-292. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.2.279

© 1999 American Psychological Association

Reliability Statistics for the Eight Collectivism Indicators

Vandello, J. A., & Cohen, D. (1999). Patterns of individualism and collectivism across the United States. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(2), 279-292. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.2.279

© 1999 American Psychological Association

Fig. 6. Map of state-level Openness.

Peter J. Rentfrow et al. Perspectives on Psychological Science 2008;3:339-369

Copyright © by Association for Psychological Science

Fig. 2. Map of state-level Extraversion.



Fig. 3. Map of state-level Agreeableness.



Fig. 4. Map of state-level Conscientiousness.



Fig. 5. Map of state-level Neuroticism.



Why do these cultural differences emerge?

Ecological factorsResidential mobilityDSIT

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Social influence and cultural emergence

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