Psychology of Social Influence

This volume brings together the full range of modalities of social influence - from crowding, leadership, and norm formation to resistance and mass mediation - to set out a challenge-and-response 'cyclone' model. The authors use real-world examples to ground this model and review each modality of social influence in depth. A 'periodic table of social influence' is constructed that characterises and compares exercises of influence in practical terms. The wider implications of social influence are considered, such as how each exercise of a single modality stimulates responses from other modalities and how any everyday process is likely to arise from a mix of influences. The book demonstrates that different modalities of social influence are tactics that defend, question, and develop 'common sense' over time and offers advice to those studying in political and social movements, social change, and management.

'The authors have produced an innovative, well-crafted book that skillfully guides students and experts to gain a deeper and more satisfactory understanding of the transformed nature of social influence in our fast-changing, 21st century world.' Fathali Moghaddam, Professor of Psychology, Georgetown University, and author of Mutual Radicalization, 'The Psychology of Social Influence is wonderfully erudite and scholarly allowing the reader to appreciate the variety of perspectives and intellectual traditions that over time were brought to bear on social influence as a realm of phenomena … I can't think of a more comprehensive introduction to this fundamental topic of crucial importance to science and society.' Arie W. Kruglanski, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, University of Maryland, '[Most college students] are not yet specialists or experts and so they need a survey and guide. This book seems the best fit for meeting that need. It can serve as a textbook for teaching senior undergraduate or beginning graduate classes across the field of social and behavioral sciences.' Hak-Soo Kim, Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research

Gordon Sammut is Associate Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Malta. He has served as the Chief Editor for Methods of Psychological Intervention, The Cambridge Handbook of Social Representations, and Understanding Self and Others. Martin W. Bauer is Professor of Social Psychology at the London School of Economics and a member of Acatech (German Academy of Technical Sciences). He is the former Editor of Public Understanding of Science and investigates common sense, public opinion, and attitudes to novel technological developments.