The obstinate audience: The influence process from the point of view of social communication.

The social model of man and the scientific model(s) of man and "the relationships of these 2 models in the area of social communication" are discussed. Major findings of research on attitude change are summarized. Communication, given a reasonably large audience, varies in its impart. The audience exercises much more initiative outside the laboratory than it does in the experimental situation. The audience in effect influences the communicator by the role it forces on him. Individuals process new information as a function of their perceived relationship to future audiences. The audience selects from what is offered. "The process of social communication and of the flow of influence in general must be regarded as a transaction. The argument for using the transactional model for scientific purposes is that it opens the door more fully to exploring the intention and behavior of members of the audience and encourages inquiry into the influence of the audience on the communicator by specifically treating the process as a 2-way passage." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social influence and threat in confrontations between competent peers.

Five studies investigated social influence processes in confrontations between competent peers and showed a default absence of influence of a competent source on an equally competent target. This default lack of influence is attributed to the representation that competent targets give to the influence encounter, in which different answers from competent peers are incompatible, the error of the source thus being the sine qua non condition of targets’ correctness. However, an influence appeared when the representation of the task was modified via a decentering procedure (Study 1), even when controlling for alternative explanations (Study 2). Study 3 demonstrated that this liberating effect of decentering did not appear when the source was incompetent. Study 4 also examined social comparison processes and showed that independence of judgments produced the same liberating effect as decentering. Finally, Study 5 showed that the default lack of influence in confrontations between competent peers is due to the presence of a threat to the self. Indeed, the reduction of threat through a procedure of self-affirmation modified the representation of the task and allowed influence to appear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive and negative opinion modeling: The influence of another's similarity and dissimilarity.

Modeling research that has focused on the effects of observing similar others appears to have underestimated the influence of observing dissimilar others. Two experiments demonstrated that observing a model express liking for a piece of music induced more favorable opinions of the music (positive modeling) when the model was similar to the participant observer in relevant opinions, and more negative opinions (negative modeling) when the model was dissimilar to the participant in relevant opinions. Of note, this pattern was more pronounced when participants also believed their general backgrounds were dissimilar rather than similar to that of the model. Underlying social comparison processes and the mediational role of participants' liking of the model are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social influence effects on automatic racial prejudice.

Although most research on the control of automatic prejudice has focused on the efficacy of deliberate attempts to suppress or correct for stereotyping, the reported experiments tested the hypothesis that automatic racial prejudice is subject to common social influence. In experiments involving actual interethnic contact, both tacit and expressed social influence reduced the expression of automatic prejudice, as assessed by two different measures of automatic attitudes. Moreover, the automatic social tuning effect depended on participant ethnicity. European Americans (but not Asian Americans) exhibited less automatic prejudice in the presence of a Black experimenter than a White experimenter (Experiments 2 and 4), although both groups exhibited reduced automatic prejudice when instructed to avoid prejudice (Experiment 3). Results are consistent with shared reality theory, which postulates that social regulation is central to social cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of augmentation and reduction as modes of influence.

A2 X 2 factorial experiment was conducted which attempted to influence the opinion responses of Ss (introductory psychology students) through the use of 1 of 2 methods, augmentation or reduction. Also varied was the plausibility of the standard employed by the influencer to assess the "correctness" of the Ss' opinions. It was found that reduction (giving mild praise for correct answers, but extreme criticism for wrong ones) when coupled with an implausible standard produced the greatest concealment of opinions, the least learning of the influencer's standard, and the least acceptance of it. With the plausible standard, reduction was not noticeably different in its effects from augmentation (giving high praise for correct answers and mild reproof for wrong ones). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of role playing on opinion change.

"The experiment was designed to determine whether or not overt verbalization, induced by role playing, facilitates opinion change… . The main findings, together with various methodological checks, support the hypothesis that overt verbalization induced by role playing tends to augment the effectiveness of a persuasive communication." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicator credibility and communication discrepancy as determinants of opinion change.

The theory of cognitive dissonance suggests that opinion change is a function of a specific complex interaction between the credibility of the communicator and the discrepancy of the communication from the initial attitude of the recipient. In a laboratory experiment, Ss who read a communication that was attributed to a highly credible source showed greater opinion change when the opinion of the source was presented as being increasingly discrepant from their own. In sharp contrast to this was the behavior of Ss who were exposed to the same communication—attributed to a source having only moderate credibility. In this condition, increasing the discrepancy increased the degree of opinion change only to a point; as discrepancy became more extreme, however, the degree of opinion change decreased. The results support predictions from the theory and suggest a reconciliation of previously contradictory findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social Motives and Strategic Misrepresentation in Social Decision Making.

In 4 experiments, the authors studied the influence of social motives on deception and strategic misrepresentation. In a newly developed information provision game, individuals faced a decision maker whose decision would affect both own and other's outcomes. By withholding information or by giving (in)accurate information about payoffs, participants could try to influence other's decision making. Less accurate and more inaccurate information was given when the decision maker was competitive rather than cooperative (Experiment 1), especially when participants had a prosocial rather than selfish value orientation (Experiments 3 and 4). Accurate information was withheld because of fear of exploitation and greed, and inaccurate information was given because of greed (Experiment 2). Finally, participants engaged in strategic misrepresentation that may trick competitive others into damaging their own and increasing the participant's outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social conformity in perception of the autokinetic effect.

The autokinetic phenomenon was used to test the effect of social influence upon perceptual processes. Conformity (continuation of the behavior beyond the situation where it may appear to be required, as distinguished from compliance, which terminates once the immediate need is no longer experienced by the S for the behavior) was demonstrated. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE89E. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intragroup social influence and intergroup competition.

Three experiments examined the role of intragroup social influence in intergroup competition. In the context of a mutual fate control situation, participants in Exp 1 demonstrated more intergroup competition in the presence than in the absence of social support for shared self-interest. Exp 2 revealed that, in the context of a Prisoner's Dilemma Game, this social support effect was stronger when noncorrespondence of outcomes between the interacting groups was low than when it was high. Results from Exp 3 were consistent with the possibility that the effect of social support is attenuated when noncorrespondence of outcomes is high because under these circumstances intergroup competition is prescribed by a norm of group interest. The implications of these findings for understanding the antecedents of interindividual-intergroup discontinuity are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of hunger on the learning and recall of food related words.

To test the effect of drive state on learning in humans, Ss were presented with paired associates consisting of food and nonfood words, either before or after the evening meal. It was found that the premeal group learned faster, particularly when the paired associates was a food word, and the premeal group recalled food words, but failed to recall nonfood words. The effect of drive on learning was demonstrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social communication about unpalatable foods in tamarins (Saguinus oedipus).

Many monkeys show social facilitation in sampling novel, palatable foods but not in avoiding unpalatable foods. Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) socially learned to avoid a preferred food when it was made unpalatable but showed no aversion toward a food not made unpalatable. Only 33% sampled unpalatable tuna, and few sampled it again. In 3 of 8 groups, the socially induced aversion was long lasting, at least 15 weeks after food was made palatable again. Potential cues include facial reactions of disgust, alarm-call vocalizations, and reduction in food-associated calls. Behavioral coordination in cooperative infant care, communication about food, and well-established social relationships may explain social avoidance of unpalatable foods in tamarins and the absence of social avoidance in less cooperative species. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individuality and Social Influence in Groups: Inductive and Deductive Routes to Group Identity.

A distinction between forms of social identity formation in small interactive groups is investigated. In groups in which a common identity is available or given, norms for individual behavior may be deduced from group properties (deductive identity). In groups in which interpersonal relations are central, a group identity may also be induced from individual group members' contributions, making individuality and individual distinctiveness a defining feature of the group (inductive identity). Two studies examined the prediction that depersonalization produced by anonymity has opposite effects for groups in which social identity has been induced or deduced. Results confirmed the prediction that depersonalization increases social influence in groups whose identity was more deductive. In contrast, depersonalization decreases social influence in inductive identity groups. Implications for the role of social identity in small groups are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social cues influence foraging in dwarf hamsters (Phodopus campbelli).

In 2 experiments, dwarf hamsters (Phodopus campbelli) were trained to find palatable foods in an open field. The location of each food patch remained the same throughout each experiment, and only 1 food was available per day. Once subjects had been trained to find each food in its unique location, they progressed to a testing phase in which subjects’ mates were allowed to eat and hoard the food that was available in the open field each day. The foods that subjects’ mates brought back to the home cages then served as discriminative stimuli signaling which food could be obtained in the open field. Subjects generally approached the patch containing the food hoarded by their mates, suggesting that dwarf hamster burrows could function as information centers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The social communication model of pain.

Everybody is an expert on pain, by virtue of biological preparedness and personal experience. Unfortunately, this expertise fails large numbers of people, and we must improve our understanding through theoretical and research advances. A vast research-based literature on the nature and management of pain is now available, and there have been dramatic advances in our understanding and management of pain. Nevertheless, there continue to be major problems in the management of severe acute pain and chronic pain. It is argued that a formulation of pain that explicitly focuses upon social factors would more readily address human needs than models that focus upon biophysical and/or psychological factors alone (intrapersonal processes). Although ancient protective biological systems provide for escape and avoidance of pain, evolution of human capacities for cognitive processing and social adaptation necessitate a model of pain incorporating these capabilities (interpersonal processes). The more inclusive and comprehensive social communication model of pain is described and illustrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job content and worker's opinions.

A 71-item questionnaire was used to survey opinions of automotive assembly operators toward supervisor and the general work situation. In 4 production departments "no difference was observed in the favorableness of opinions… on two jobs of clearly different content… . The instrument… sensitive enough to show differences between assembly operators and utility men when utility men were singled out by management for special treatment and had their jobs further expanded." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intertrial effects of immediate self-committal in a continuous social influence situation.

A perceptual task consisting of the judgment of dot numerosity on tachistoscopically presented slides was presented to Ss. Present in the experimental room as each S was being tested was a "role-player" who also made a judgment. In one group the "role-player's" judgment preceded the S's judgment; in another, it followed the S's judgment; and in a third group, the S was required to judge the stimulus both before and after the "role-player." The results show that "once an S has expressed a judgment of a stimulus, he is generally reluctant to change his response to any great degree. The S may still be heavily influenced in the situation, however, the effects of which are reflected in subsequent committal responses." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discussion as a function of attitudes and content of a persuasive communication.

5 statistical indices of group discussion behavior were applied to discussion protocols of 6 small groups of high school students, differing in degree of ethnocentrism. The measures which described group reaction to controversial communication were: verbal outuput, participation, rate of response, spontaneity, and recruitment. "Consistent differences among the three degrees of ethnocentrism represented in the discussion groups were reflected in the five indices. Those Ss favorably disposed toward the communication content showed a greater degree of discussion activity and spontaneity than did Ss who were antagonistic or neutral toward the communication." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

完善质量管理体系的实践与思考

阐述了认证后企业在质量管理体系运行及日常管理中普遍容易忽视的问题 ,结合莱钢实践提出了完善体系运行的相应对策。     

Inferring the popularity of an opinion from its familiarity: A repetitive voice can sound like a chorus.

Despite the importance of doing so, people do not always correctly estimate the distribution of opinions within their group. One important mechanism underlying such misjudgments is people's tendency to infer that a familiar opinion is a prevalent one, even when its familiarity derives solely from the repeated expression of 1 group member. Six experiments demonstrate this effect and show that it holds even when perceivers are consciously aware that the opinions come from 1 speaker. The results also indicate that the effect is due to opinion accessibility rather than a conscious inference about the meaning of opinion repetition in a group. Implications for social consensus estimation and social influence are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)