Effects of source expertise and physical distance on minority influence.

The treatment of source strength and immediacy distinguishes social impact theory from other theories of social influence. The present study examined the effects of source expertise (e.g., strength) and physical distance (i.e., immediacy) on minority influence. Groups (N?=?40), consisting of 2 naive research participants and 1 confederate who argued for a minority position, provided ratings for 40 hypothetical graduate school applicants. The confederate was seated either 4 ft (1.2192 m; high immediacy) or 10 ft (3.048 m; low immediacy) from the other group members and presented himself as either a senior who had recently applied to several graduate programs (high strength) or as a freshman (low strength). The confederate exerted more influence in the high-strength condition than in the low-strength condition, but only when immediacy was low. The implications of these findings for social impact theory and for future research and practice are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)