Impersonal Influence

[00:31 . 39]穆茨当代政治生活中的一股重要力量可能涉及所谓的“非个人影响”，即来自人们对他人态度、信仰或经历的看法的影响。在这种情况下，其他人不是指亲密的朋友和熟人，而是指个人交往领域之外的匿名其他人。例如，当早期总统初选的结果影响到后来初选中对候选人的态度时，或者当全国民意调查的结果影响到随后的政治行为时，就发生了非个人的影响。同样，当人们根据他们对整个国家经济状况的看法而不是个人经济财富进行投票时，他们也会受到非个人的其他人看法的影响。影响在两个方面被认为是非个人的：它们是中介的，不涉及面对面的人际交流，它们涉及个人个人生活空间之外的集体的态度、信仰和经验的信息。大众传媒在构建人们对个人经历和接触领域之外的更大社会世界的形象方面发挥着至关重要的作用。这些观念反过来又对精英和大众的政治行为产生重要影响。迄今为止，对社会影响的关注在个人熟人和群体影响的层面上进行了最彻底的调查。尽管如此，各种当代理论和研究结果都指出，非个人的他人对政治态度和行为有重要影响。在这项调查中，研究人员采用了一种混合方法，包括在全国民意调查中嵌入实验。这个项目将探索非个人影响的社会心理学，试图理解人们何时以及为什么会受到他们对大众意见或经验的看法的影响。这项研究的结果将阐明大众传媒在当代政治进程中的作用。尽管在各种各样的当代政治局势中，非个人影响的潜力是显而易见的，但其影响的程度和规范含义却并非如此。为了充分理解这些过程对美国政治的影响，有必要了解非个人影响发生的实际机制。＊＊＊

9310039 Mutz An important force in contemporary political life involves what may be termed "impersonal influence," that is influence that derives from people's perceptions of others attitudes, beliefs, or experiences. Others in this case refers not to close friends and acquaintances, but rather to the anonymous others outside an individual's realm of personal contacts. For example, when the outcomes of early presidential primaries affect attitudes toward candidates in later primaries, or when the results of national opinion polls influence subsequent political behavior, impersonal influence is taking place. Likewise, when people vote on the basis of their perceptions of how the nation as a whole is faring economically rather than on their own personal economic fortunes, they are also being influenced by perceptions of impersonal others. Influences are deemed impersonal in two respects: they are mediated and do not involve face-to-face interpersonal communication, and they involve information about the attitudes, beliefs and experiences of collectives outside of an individual's personal lifespace. Mass media play a crucial role in constructing people's images of the larger social world outside the realm of personal experiences and contacts. These perceptions, in turn, have important consequences for the political behavior of elites and mass publics. To date, the concern with social influence has been investigated most thoroughly at the level of personal acquaintances and group influence. Nonetheless, a variety of contemporary theories and research findings point to impersonal others as an important influence on political attitudes and behavior. In this investigation, the researchers employ a hybrid methodology involving experiments embedded within national opinion surveys. This project will explore the social psychology of impersonal influence in an attempt to understand when and why people are influenced by their perceptions of mass opinion or expe rience. Findings from this research will shed light on mass media's role in contemporary political processes. Although the potential for impersonal influence is clear in a wide variety of contemporary political situations, the extent of its influence and normative implications are not. In order to understand fully the implications of these processes for American politics, it is essential to understand the actual mechanisms by which impersonal influence occurs. ***