16 - Social power

Social power

© SPMM Course balanced flexibility, and if the minority appeared to have some similarity to the rest of the group. Milgram’s experiments on obedience: Subjects were recruited by an authoritative university faculty and were asked to administer electric shock to victims kept in a different room by pressing buttons. The sham victim would make crying sounds in pain on increasing the dose of electricity. Group processes There are various processes that influence individuals when making decisions as a part of a group. The group can make more risky decisions than what an individual him/herself can. This is called risky shift. A group discussion process can strengthen average individual inclinations and polarise the group in the direction where most individuals were heading already. This is called group polarisation. While making extreme decisions, the desire to agree with other members of a group can override rational judgment applicable in individual decision-making. This is called groupthink. Group processes, especially polarization, are considered to be due to three underlying phenomena:  Normative influence: People have a need not to appear odd or ‘stick out’ like a sore thumb. So they say yes to what others in the group say.  Informational influence: Having more information after group discussion can facilitate decision-making  Social identity: A group norm is established soon after a group is formed. This creates a social identity and pressure to conform to maintain the belongingness. Robert Bales made observations around small group communication in early 1950s. In small groups, discussion initially tended to shift back and forth quickly between a task and its relevance to the group members. This helped to balance task completion and group cohesion. Later a linear phase emerged – the discussion moved from a mere exchange of opinions to evaluating values underlying a decision and then to making a decision. He also noted that no matter how large the group, the most talkative member spoke for 40-50% of the time, and second most talkative 23-30% of the time – dominating the conversation to the detriment of the others. Social power French and Raven identified 6 sources of social (or organizational) power. They used the term Bases of Social Power to describe these factors.