9/4/2020 Social Influence

S o c i a l I n f l u e n c e

Read it to me home

What is Social influence

Social influenced is the effect that people have upon the beliefs or behaviors
of others (Aaronson, 2004).

THREE ASPECTS OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE ARE:

Social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or behaviour in order to

adhere to existing social norms.
A form of social influence involving direct request from one person to another.
A form of social influence in which one person obeys direct orders from another to
perform some action(s)

The comparatively young science of social influence, however, can trace its roots to the
second world war, when a social psychologist named Carl Hovland was contracted by the
U.S. Armed Forces to bolster the morale of soldiers. President Roosevelt was concerned that
Americans would lose the will to fight after winning victory in Europe. It was Hovland's job
to motivate soldiers to continue fighting against Japan. Since World War II, social influence
has become a vastly expanding field of study devoted to discovering the principles that
determine our beliefs, create our attitudes, and move us to action.

~ www.workingpsychology.com

For example, you’re as a teenager your parents tell you don’t ride in the car with someone
who has been drinking. It's Friday night, party night, your friends get in the car with a
senior whose been drinking. They ask you if you want a ride. You reply "no" because of
mom's advice. They assure you the senior driving only had three beers and the party is
only 4 blocks away and honey's will be there. They assure you... you will be safe. You start
to think maybe mom’s over reacting, three beers "does not mean drunk", after all he
doesn’t look drunk. You hop in the car!

Social Influence occurs in the example because other people had an effect on behavior.
Social influence is similar to peer pressure in that it’s effects on you come from people, and
it may alter your decisions. Social influenced can have positive or negative effects on
people. Not all social influence is negative. Not all peer pressure is negative. Not all effects
are negative. Social influence in short is the effects of the way you think and act as a result

of various associations in society. N e x t P a g e

https://owd.tcnj.edu/~browntam/SocialInfluence.htm 1/1