Social influence and
cultural emergence
What is the difference between social
influence and persuasion?
 Conformity vs. compliance vs. obedience
 Sherif, Asch, and Milgram classic studies
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◦ What made for more conformity/obedience in
these?
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Informational vs. normative influence
General information
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4
Participant 1
Participant 2
3
Participant 3
2
1
0
alone
1
2
3
Number of group members
Sherif, 1935 autokinetic effect
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Influence
Six techniques
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Reciprocity
Social validation (social comparison theory)
Consistency (cognitive dissonance theory)
Liking
Scarcity (reactance theory)
Authority
Examples? Examples not in sales?
Does this cover everything?
Cialdini’s techniques
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How could these be evolutionary? What
does adding that give us?
◦ Goals
◦ Relationships
Affiliation, accuracy, consistency
 What techniques would be more or less
effective for the above goals? For
strangers vs. children vs. partners?
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Evolution and Influence
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Focus theory of normative conduct
(Cialdini, Kallgren, & Reno, 1991)
◦ Injunctive vs. descriptive norms
◦ Attention
◦ How do injunctive vs. descriptive norms differ?
Social norms and influence
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)?
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Focus theory
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?
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Social marketing
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?
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Shariff, Norenzayan, & Henrich,
2010
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?
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What is culture according to DSIT?
Culture vs. evolution
◦ How does evolution relate to culture?
◦ According to DSIT?
◦ According to Shariff, Norenzayan, & Henrich?
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Bottom up vs. top down
Cultural emergence
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Social impact theory (Latané, 1981)
◦ What are the 3 factors?
◦ What does it mean to have a multiplicative
function? A marginally decreasing effect?
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Catastrophe theory of attitudes (Latané &
Nowak, 1994)
◦ Involving vs. uninvolving attitudes
Background approaches
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What are the 4 C’s of culture? What do each
of them mean? How/why do they come
about?
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Clustering
Correlation
Consolidation
Continuing diversity
What types of studies have shown support
for DSIT?
◦ Other examples?
Dynamic social impact theory
(Latané, 1996)
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What things are more likely to be passed on?
◦ Involvement
◦ Heritability
◦ Chip Heath’s research
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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?
Memes and cultural evolution
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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?
DSIT issues
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.
Peter J. Rentfrow et al. Perspectives on Psychological
Science 2008;3:339-369
Copyright © by Association for Psychological Science
Fig. 3. Map of state-level Agreeableness.
Peter J. Rentfrow et al. Perspectives on Psychological
Science 2008;3:339-369
Copyright © by Association for Psychological Science
Fig. 4. Map of state-level Conscientiousness.
Peter J. Rentfrow et al. Perspectives on Psychological
Science 2008;3:339-369
Copyright © by Association for Psychological Science
Fig. 5. Map of state-level Neuroticism.
Peter J. Rentfrow et al. Perspectives on Psychological
Science 2008;3:339-369
Copyright © by Association for Psychological Science
Ecological factors
 Residential mobility
 DSIT
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Why do these cultural differences
emerge?
Groups
 Paper ideas!
 Tests back!
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Next week