POWRE: Systematic Investigation of Effects of Media and Change in Social Attitudes on Status-Organizing Processes in Task Groups

对社会影响过程的实验研究最近发现，与先前的研究相比，社会影响的水平较低。本项目集中于系统地调查这种差异的三个来源：(1)关于影响过程的社会特征的文化态度的变化，(2)研究社会影响的实验进行的媒介的差异(即，视频中介实验与计算机中介实验)，以及(3)实验者遵循的程序的差异。在这个实验中，受试者表面上通过与伴侣一起工作来完成一项决策任务。在现实中，伴侣是通过计算机软件或录像带来模拟的。合作伙伴的行为受到操纵，在互动中引入了关于任务解决方案的分歧。影响力的评估是通过确定主体在发生分歧后拒绝服从合作伙伴的立场的频率来进行的。为了检验性别和媒体效应，采用了2(受试者性别：男性与女性)×2(伴侣性别：男性与女性)×2(媒介：电脑与视频)析因设计。这个项目基于身份特征理论的论证，该理论描述了区分人的社会属性(如年龄、种族和性别)如何对应于人们对彼此的能力期望差异，并影响行为。对能力的期望源于对社会特征的文化信仰。因此，这种信念的转变可能会导致影响过程的变化，这是最近对该理论的测试中发现的较低影响水平的原因。此外，最近的实验是在计算机化的环境中进行的，而早期的研究是在视频环境中进行的。因此，媒体效应代表了降低影响力水平的另一种解释。对以前和最近关于社会影响的实验的检查也显示出所使用的协议的不同。因此，目前尚不清楚在最近的研究中，较低的影响率是否源于(1)文化属性的变化，(2)媒体效应，和/或(3)在进行实验时遵循的程序的变化。该项目将有助于加深对文化态度对人际互动的影响以及传播媒体对社会互动的影响的了解。还将获得有关计算机中介实验的有价值的信息。研究人员一直致力于计算机软件的开发，通过该软件可以进行状态特征理论实验。媒体和程序效果的表达对这项工作至关重要。媒体的影响必须从文化对社会属性的理解的影响中解脱出来，然后才能取得理论和经验上的进展。因此，这种探索性研究对研究人员的研究议程和学术生涯的发展至关重要。

Experimental research on social influence processes has recently revealed lower levels of social influence compared to prior research. This project focuses on systematically investigating three sources of this variation: (1) changes in cultural attitudes regarding social characteristics that affect influence processes, (2) differences in the medium through which experiments studying social influence are conducted (i.e., video-mediated vs. computer-mediated experiments), and (3) differences in the procedures that experimenters have followed. In this experiment, subjects complete a decisionmaking task, ostensibly by working with a partner. In reality, the partner is emulated via computer software or videotape. The partner's behavior is manipulated, introducing disagreements regarding the task solution into the interaction. Influence is assessed by determining how often the subject refuses to comply with the position of the partner following the disagreements. To test gender and media effects, a 2 (subject gender: male vs. female) x 2 (partner's gender: male vs. female) x 2 (medium: computer vs. video) factorial design is used. This project rests on arguments from Status Characteristics Theory, which describes how social attributes (like age, race, and sex) that differentiate people correspond to differences in competency expectations that people hold for one another and influence behavior. Competency expectations arise from cultural beliefs regarding social characteristics. Thus, shifts in such beliefs may lead to changes in influence processes, accounting for the lower influence levels found in recent tests of the theory. Also, recent experiments were conducted in a computerized context, while earlier studies were conducted in a video context. As such, media effects represent an alternative explanation for reduced influence levels. Examination of previous and recent experiments on social influence also reveal differences in the protocols that were used. Consequently, it is unclear whether lower influence rates in recent research arise from (1) changes in cultural attitidues, (2) media effects, and/or (3) variations in the procedures followed in administering the experiments. This project will lead to enhanced understanding of the effect of cultural attitudes on interpersonal interaction, as well as the effects of communication media on social interaction. Valuable information on computer-mediated experimentation will also be gained. The investigator has been engaged in the development of computer software through which Status Characteristics Theory experiments can be conducted. The articulation of media and procedural effects is critical to this work. The effects of media must be disentangled from the effects of cultural understandings of social attributes before theoretical and empirical advances can be made. Consequently, this exploratory research is critical to the development of the investigator's research agenda and scholarly career.