Social Power and Attitude Change
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"Social power is a process of social interaction in which one party produces intended changes in another party's attitudes or behavior, even in the face of the other's resistance. (Wiggins et. al, 1994, p.408)"
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2. coercion (brute force)
3. expert knowledge (influence)
4. information (persuasion)
5. reward (exchange)
6. personal (charismatic)
Find Examples: what are situations in which these six resources are used?
POWER RESOURCE 1: Authority
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=> Authorities exercise authoritative power
POWER RESOURCE 2: Coercive or
Authoritarian Power
High status may be assigned to someone as long she follows accepted bureaucratic rules. However, she will be seen as a villain or even terrorists when we do not share her cultural rules of legitimation.
=> Villains exercise coercive power
The Milgram Experiment
Milgram, Stanley. 1974. Obedience to Authority: An experimental View. New York: Harper & Row.
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"The authority system at work in the laboratory is less persuasive than the prepotent system embodied in the totalitarian structures of Stalin and Hitler, in which subordinates were profoundly submerged in their roles"(p.155).
"The laboratory experiment takes an hour, the Nazi calamity unfolds over more than a decade. Is the obedience observed in the laboratory in any way comparable to that seen in Nazi Germany?"(p.175).
POWER RESOURCE 3: EXPERT KNOWLEDGE
Example: The Surgeon General (not Joe Doe) says:
"Quit smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health"
POWER RESOURCE 4: INFORMATION
Cognitive Appeals:
If you can present good reasons.
Cognitive appeals are especially efficient if they come from experts.
We can exercise power by manipulating the presentation
of information
Foot-in-the-door technique:
Get a person comply with a small request first.
Experiment: Put a large ugly sign in your front yardA) after signing a petition first
B) no prior contact
A variation of the Foot-in-the-door technique. Here conditions of the deal are changed piecewise.
Door-in-the-face technique:
To get room for negotiation we first make an exaggerated demand.
Variation of the Door-in-the-face technique. Throwing in some extra benefit, we manipulate the contribution side of the exchange equation. First there is a large request, then, before the target refuses, the request is lowered.
POWER RESOURCE 5: REWARD
If we exercise too much power or use the wrong resource of power we feel guilt.
Who determines what is the right resource of power and what is too much power? => social norms
Power relations can be seen as exchange relations.
=> Social Exchange Theory
POWER RESOURCE 6: PERSON
Charismatic persons that make you do what they want.
Rock Stars, Religious leaders, TV evangelists, want fame, influence (and money).
Politicians want to be elected. The charismatic car salesman want to make a deal.
Disclaimer: The documents linked to other sources on the WWW, others than http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider/ and its subdirectories, do not necessarily express the views of Texas Tech University or Dr. Andreas Schneider. @Copyright 2008 Andreas Schneider