Collaborative Research: The Functions of Social Influence

合作研究：社会影响力的功能

• 批准号: 0744849
• 负责人: Kristin Sommer
• 金额: $ 16.4万
• 依托单位: CUNY Baruch College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-06-01 至 2011-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0744849&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Functions; Social; Influence

Social psychologists have conducted hundreds of studies that attempt to determine when and why people will be influenced by others. With few exceptions, however, little work has examined why people seek to have an influence on others. Why do people care if others conform, obey, or change their opinions as a result of something they say or do? What needs or goals are served by having an impact on someone? And what are the consequences of learning that one has failed to influence another? In this collaborative research conducted by Martin Bourgeois of Florida Gulf Coast University and Kristin Sommer of CUNY Baruch College, social influence is hypothesized to fulfill five basic human needs. Specifically, having influence may satisfy needs for meaningful existence (by allowing one to realize short-term goals and experience a sense of purpose in life); accuracy (by suggesting that one's beliefs and behaviors are right and justified); control (by establishing contingencies between one's behaviors and desired outcomes); self-esteem (by providing one with a sense of accomplishment or superiority to others); and belongingness (by strengthening social connections and making one feel valued by others). Empirical support for this model will be obtained using three main approaches. First, results of a prior experiment revealed that people who believed they had successfully persuaded another reported higher levels of belongingness, control, self-esteem and purpose in life than those who failed to persuade. These findings will be replicated and extended by showing that need satisfaction is contingent on successful influence as opposed to any type of successful endeavor. Second, the researchers will examine whether systematically depriving people of each of these needs increases their attempts to influence others. These studies will temporarily reduce people's feelings of belongingness, control, existential meaning, self-esteem, or accuracy and assess their subsequent efforts to persuade other people. Finally, a series of studies will examine whether having influence attenuates the emotional and behavioral consequences of social ostracism and thoughts of one's own death. These studies test the prediction that influence replenishes the needs threatened by noxious social stimuli. Additional domains of social influence, including conformity, compliance, and obedience, will be examined to determine if the results generalize. The work supported by this grant will provide a unique and long overdue contribution to the social psychology literature by examining influence processes from the perspective of the agent rather than target of influence. The results are expected to provide a crucial and currently untested link between perceived influence and mental health. The proposed findings would suggest that people who experience temporary or chronically low levels of self-esteem, belongingness, meaningful existence, accuracy or control will be particularly likely to benefit from having influence on others. The findings are also likely to have strong implications for the development and quality of interpersonal relationships. Because people will seek and maintain connections with those who offer the greatest potential for need fulfillment, they are most likely to be attracted to friends and romantic partners whose attitudes and behaviors they have helped to shape.

社会心理学家进行了数百项研究，试图确定人们何时以及为什么会受到他人的影响。然而，除了极少数例外，很少有人研究人们为什么寻求对他人施加影响。为什么人们会在意别人是否会因为他们说的或做的事情而顺从、服从或改变自己的观点呢？通过对某人产生影响来满足什么需求或目标？了解到一个人未能影响另一个人会有什么后果？在这项由佛罗里达墨西哥湾沿岸大学的马丁·布尔乔亚和纽约州立大学巴鲁克学院的克里斯汀·索默共同开展的研究中，假设社会影响力可以满足人类的五项基本需求。具体地说，拥有影响力可能满足对有意义的存在的需求(通过允许一个人实现短期目标并体验生活的使命感)；准确性(通过暗示一个人的信仰和行为是正确和合理的)；控制(通过建立一个人的行为和预期结果之间的偶然性)；自尊(通过给一个人一种成就感或对他人的优越感)；以及归属感(通过加强社会关系，让一个人感到被他人重视)。这一模型将通过三种主要方法获得经验支持。首先，先前一项实验的结果显示，那些相信自己成功说服他人的人比那些说服失败的人更有归属感、控制力、自尊心和生活目标。这些发现将被重复和扩展，表明需求满足取决于成功的影响力，而不是任何类型的成功努力。其次，研究人员将研究系统性地剥夺人们的每一种需求是否会增加他们影响他人的尝试。这些研究将暂时降低人们的归属感、控制感、存在感、自尊感或准确性，并评估他们随后说服他人的努力。最后，一系列研究将检验拥有影响力是否会减弱社会排斥和对自己死亡的想法带来的情感和行为后果。这些研究测试了影响补充受到有害社会刺激威胁的需求的预测。对社会影响的其他领域，包括顺从、顺从和服从，将进行审查，以确定结果是否具有普遍性。这项拨款支持的工作将通过从影响的动因而不是目标的角度来研究影响过程，从而为社会心理学文献提供一种独特的和期待已久的贡献。预计这一结果将在感知影响力和心理健康之间提供一个关键的、目前尚未经过检验的联系。研究结果表明，自尊心、归属感、有意义的存在、准确性或控制力处于暂时或长期较低水平的人，特别有可能从对他人的影响中受益。这一发现也可能对人际关系的发展和质量产生强烈的影响。因为人们会寻求并保持与那些最有潜力满足需求的人的联系，他们最有可能被他们帮助塑造的态度和行为的朋友和浪漫伴侣所吸引。