Social influence and cultural emergence

General information What is the difference between social influence and persuasion? Conformity vs. compliance vs. obedience Sherif, Asch, and Milgram classic studies What made for more conformity/obedience in these? Informational vs. normative influence

Cialdini’s techniques Influence Six techniques Reciprocity Social validation (social comparison theory) Consistency (cognitive dissonance theory) Liking Scarcity (reactance theory) Authority Examples? Examples not in sales?

Evolution and Influence How could these be evolutionary? What does adding that give us? Goals Relationships Coalition formation, status, self-protection, mate selection, mate retention, parental care What techniques would be more or less effective for the above goals? For strangers vs. children vs. partners?

Social norms and influence Deviance regulation theory (Blanton & Christie, 2003) What does it predict? How does this relate to influence? Social identity theory (Abrams & Hogg, 1990) Focus theory of normative conduct (Cialdini, Kallgren, & Reno, 1991) Injunctive vs. descriptive norms Attention

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? Avoid the stork

Cultural emergence What is culture according to DSIT? According to Norenzayan et al.? Culture vs. evolution How does evolution relate to culture? Bottom up vs. top down Other research: memes, elements of cultures that are most likely to be passed on, what happens as they get passed on?

Dynamic social impact theory (Latane, 1990) What are the 3 factors? What does it mean to have a multiplicative function? A marginally decreasing effect? Catastrophe theory of attitudes (Latane & Nowak, 1994) Involving vs. uninvolving attitudes DSIT What are the 4 C’s of culture? What do each of them mean? What types of studies have shown support for DSIT? Other examples?

DSIT continued 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?

Evolution and culture (Norenzayan, Schaller, & Heine, 2006) “New look” evolutionary psych How do evolved capacities make culture possible? How can biological evolution and social communication work together to create culture? What “moral norms” may have evolved and why? Ingroup/outgroup? Religion? Cultural artifacts? Myths? What types of things are more likely to be passed on and why?

Cultural evolution What are universals and what do they tell us? Importance of levels of specificity in universals. Importance of looking at cultural variation TMT, sociometer Racial prejudice Gender differences 4 degrees of universality Non-universal Existential universal Functional universal Accessibility universal Examples?

Why might psychological phenomena be universal or not across cultures? Does universal mean “innate”?

Infectious diseases and culture More value placed on physical attractiveness in a mate (Gangestad & Buss, 1993) Lower mean levels of sociosexuality, extraversion, and openness to experience, but do not differ on other personality variables (e.g., conscientiousness) (Schaller & Murray, 2008) Fewer political/social rights (Thornhill, Fincher, & Aran, 2009) More religious (Fincher & Thornhill, 2008) More collectivist. (Fincher, Thornhill, Murray, & Schaller, 2009)

Other factors Concern for optimal social exchange Tom’s thesis on disabled persons What things are more likely to be passed on? Boyd & Richerson, 1985 Sperber, 1996 Chip Heath’s research Memorability Surprise Emotions (esp. disgust) Ease of communication Push for novelty Establishment of social identity Cultural exchange

Religion All known societies have Belief in supernatural agents Who demand public expressions of commitment And who manage fears of death, meaningless, and hopelessness Minimally counterintuitive stories and concepts are better remembered and spread Ghosts beat zombies Why would religion evolve? Is it culture or biology? Individual cog tendencies for agency, or commitment to group Atran, Norenzayan

Next week Groups Paper ideas!