Bibb Latane, Ph.D. - US grants

This research is focused on the development of a computer assisted model to predict when and how people will cluster into groups and polarize. At issue is the question, under what conditions will people prove susceptible, or resistent, to the persuasive attempts of the majority or minority groups. The model developed in this proposal has shown that with only a small amount of information, changes in group attitude structure can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy. This research, if successful, will assist considerably in understanding the manner in which groups influence individuals, and also the manner in which individuals influence groups. These issues are fundamental to almost all of social psychology, and as such, the research promises to have a great impact throughout the field. This research promises to contribute to both theory and application in social research.

9411603 Latane ABSTRACT Conceiving society as a nonlinear dynamical system of interacting individuals, this program of research will explore how individual influence processes lead to the temporal evolution of groups into self-organized entities. Changes in the attributes (eg.,moods, attitudes, habits) of spatially distributed individuals resulting from the interactive, reciprocal, and recursive operation of social influence processes can be modeled by social impact theory, a simple but very general theory of social influence. Surprisingly, several macro-level phenomena can be predicted to emerge from the operation of these micro-level processes, including dynamic equilibria with stable diversity, an incomplete polarization of positions resulting in coherent clusters of minority members protecting each other from exposure to majority influence, and a tendency for people's positions on different issues to become correlated. As in other complex systems, these tendencies toward self-organization are accentuated by the introduction of randomness. Empirical research will determine whether laboratory and real groups show the predicted signs of self-organization. Field studies in a factory town in China will produce information about the nature of social space and the spatial patterning of work- and housing-related attitudes. Longitudinal studies of individuals interacting via e-mail will document the existence of polarization, clustering, and correlation and determine the effects of varying the geometry of social space on the maintenance of diversity. This research will contribute to understanding the complex interaction between individual psychological processes and social outcomes in groups ranging in size from families and other small groups to organizations, communities, and even nations. Concepts and procedures developed in this research should be applicable to understanding the historical development of regional differe nces in customs, values and beliefs, social determinants of moods, norms, life styles, and behaviors, both constructive and maladaptive, and such elusive phenomena as social movements, national mood, and public opinion. This approach aligns social psychology with the interdisciplinary study of complex self-organizing systems, and will contribute to and draw on related work in physics, economics, and biology. Finally, the empirical research will contribute to predicting the consequences of the increasing use of electronic communication in work groups and society. ***