This review covers recent developments in the social influence literature, focusing primarily on compliance and conformity research published between 1997 and 2002. The principles and processes underlying a target's susceptibility to outside influences are considered in light of three goals fundamental to rewarding human functioning. Specifically, targets are motivated to form accurate perceptions of reality and react accordingly, to develop and preserve meaningful social relationships, and to maintain a favorable self-concept. Consistent with the current movement in compliance and conformity research, this review emphasizes the ways in which these goals interact with external forces to engender social influence processes that are subtle, indirect, and outside of awareness.

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Social Influence: Compliance and Conformity

The era of Big Data has begun. Computer scientists, physicists, economists, mathematicians, political scientists, bio-informaticists, sociologists, and other scholars are clamoring for access to the massive quantities of information produced by and about people, things, and their interactions. Diverse groups argue about the potential benefits and costs of analyzing genetic sequences, social media interactions, health records, phone logs, government records, and other digital traces left by people. Significant questions emerge. Will large-scale search data help us create better tools, services, and public goods? Or will it usher in a new wave of privacy incursions and invasive marketing? Will data analytics help us understand online communities and political movements? Or will it be used to track protesters and suppress speech? Will it transform how we study human communication and culture, or narrow the palette of research options and alter what ‘research’ means? Given the rise of Big Data as a socio-tech...

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Critical questions for big data

Disasters by Design provides an alternative and sustainable way to view, study, and manage hazards in the United States that would result in disaster-resilient communities, higher environmental quality, inter- and intragenerational equity, economic sustainability, and improved quality of life. This volume provides an overview of what is known about natural hazards, disasters, recovery, and mitigation, how research findings have been translated into policies and programs; and a sustainable hazard mitigation research agenda. Also provided is an examination of past disaster losses and hazards management over the past 20 years, including factors--demographic, climate, social--that influence loss. This volume summarizes and sets the stage for the more detailed books in the series.

Disasters by Design: A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United States

Objective: To identify methods to increase response to postal questionnaires. Design: Systematic review of randomised controlled trials of any method to influence response to postal questionnaires. Studies reviewed: 292 randomised controlled trials including 258 315 participants Intervention reviewed: 75 strategies for influencing response to postal questionnaires. Main outcome measure: The proportion of completed or partially completed questionnaires returned. Results: The odds of response were more than doubled when a monetary incentive was used (odds ratio 2.02; 95% confidence interval 1.79 to 2.27) and almost doubled when incentives were not conditional on response (1.71; 1.29 to 2.26). Response was more likely when short questionnaires were used (1.86; 1.55 to 2.24). Personalised questionnaires and letters increased response (1.16; 1.06 to 1.28), as did the use of coloured ink (1.39; 1.16 to 1.67). The odds of response were more than doubled when the questionnaires were sent by recorded delivery (2.21; 1.51 to 3.25) and increased when stamped return envelopes were used (1.26; 1.13 to 1.41) and questionnaires were sent by first class post (1.12; 1.02 to 1.23). Contacting participants before sending questionnaires increased response (1.54; 1.24 to 1.92), as did follow up contact (1.44; 1.22 to 1.70) and providing non-respondents with a second copy of the questionnaire (1.41; 1.02 to 1.94). Questionnaires designed to be of more interest to participants were more likely to be returned (2.44; 1.99 to 3.01), but questionnaires containing questions of a sensitive nature were less likely to be returned (0.92; 0.87 to 0.98). Questionnaires originating from universities were more likely to be returned than were questionnaires from other sources, such as commercial organisations (1.31; 1.11 to 1.54). Conclusions: Health researchers using postal questionnaires can improve the quality of their research by using the strategies shown to be effective in this systematic review. What is already known on this topic Postal questionnaires are widely used in the collection of data in epidemiological studies and health research Non-response to postal questionnaires reduces the effective sample size and can introduce bias What this study adds This systematic review includes more randomised controlled trials than any previously published review or meta-analysis no questionnaire response The review has identified effective ways to increase response to postal questionnaires The review will be updated regularly in the Cochrane Library

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/324/7347/1183.full.pdf

Increasing response rates to postal questionnaires: systematic review

Publisher Summary In the domain of personality psychology, the trait concept has carried the burden of dispositional explanation. A multitude of personality traits has been identified and new trait dimensions continue to join the growing list. In a similar fashion, the concept of attitude has been the focus of attention in the explanations of human behavior offered by social psychologists. Numerous attitudes have been assessed over the years and, as new social issues emerge, additional attitudinal domains are explored. The chapter provides little evidence to support the postulated existence of stable, underlying attitudes within the individual, which influence both verbal expressions and actions. It examines the relation between two or more actions that were assumed to reflect the same underlying disposition. The aggregation of responses across time, contexts, targets, or actions or across a combination of these elements permits the inferences of dispositions at varying levels of generality.

Attitudes, Traits, and Actions: Dispositional Prediction of Behavior in Personality and Social Psychology

Among the far-reaching implications that have been drawn from Milgram's obedience research is that situations powerfully override personal dispositions as determinants of social behavior. A focused review of the relevant research on the Milgram paradigm reveals that the evidence on situational determinants of obedience is less clear than is generally recognized; contrary to the commonly held view, personality measures can predict obedience; another kind of dispositional variable, enduring beliefs, is also implicated in the obedience process and approaches suggested by interactionist perspectives can provide some integration of the literature. The article concludes with a discussion of the broader inferences about obedience and social behavior called for by this review and the enduring significance of Milgram's obedience research

Understanding behavior in the Milgram obedience experiment: The role of personality, situations, and their interactions.

Guided by the belief that we cannot make broad extrapolations from the obedience studies without first firmly establishing what has and has not been found using the paradigm itself, this article draws on 35 years of accumulated research and writings on the obedience paradigm to present a status report on the following salient questions and issues surrounding obedience to authority: (a) How should we construe the nature of authority in the obedience experiment? (b) Do predictions of those unfamiliar with the obedience experiment underestimate the actual obedience rates? (c) Are there gender differences in obedience? and (d) Have obedience rates changed over time?

The Milgram Paradigm After 35 Years: Some Things We Now Know About Obedience to Authority1

Creator of the famous Obedience Experiments and originator of the "six degrees of separation" theory, Stanley Milgram transformed our understanding of human nature and continues to be one of the most important figures in psychology and beyond In this sparkling biography, Thomas Blass captures the colorful personality and pioneering work of a visionary scientist who revealed the hidden workings of our social world In this new paperback edition, he includes an afterword connecting Milgram's theories to torture, war crimes, and Abu Ghraib

The Man Who Shocked The World: The Life And Legacy Of Stanley Milgram

Contents: Preface. A. Milgram, My Personal View of Stanley Milgram. H. Takooshian, How Stanley Milgram Taught About Obedience and Social Influence. J. Waters, Professor Stanley Milgram--Supervisor, Mentor, Friend. T. Blass, The Milgram Paradigm After 35 Years: Some Things We Now Know About Obedience to Authority. B.E. Collins, L. Ma, Impression Management and Identity Construction in the Milgram Social System. F. Rochat, A. Modigliani, Captain Paul Grueninger: The Chief of Police Who Saved Jewish Refugees by Refusing to Do His Duty. E. Tarnow, Self-Destructive Obedience in the Airplane Cockpit and the Concept of Obedience Optimization. A.L. Saltzman, The Role of the Obedience Experiments in Holocaust Studies: The Case for Renewed Visibility. C. Marsh, A Science Museum Exhibit on Milgram's Obedience Research: History, Description, and Visitors' Reactions. F. Rochat, O. Maggioni, A. Modigliani, The Dynamics of Obeying and Opposing Authority: A Mathematical Model. P.G. Zimbardo, C. Maslach, C. Haney, Reflections on the Stanford Prison Experiment: Genesis, Transformations, Consequences.

Thomas Blass

Papers

Understanding behavior in the Milgram obedience experiment: The role of personality, situations, and their interactions.

The Milgram Paradigm After 35 Years: Some Things We Now Know About Obedience to Authority1

The Man Who Shocked The World: The Life And Legacy Of Stanley Milgram

Obedience to Authority : Current Perspectives on the Milgram Paradigm

Personality variables in social behavior