The effects of cost, normative support, and issue importance on motivation to persuade in-group deviants.

Abstract

Persuading in-group deviants to become normative may carry costs that outweigh the advantages of group consensus. This study investigates the effects of potential cost, normative support, and issue importance on group members' efforts to change the views of in-group deviants (N ϭ 115). In line with previous research into bystander intervention, the authors show that when costs are low, high levels of either importance or normative support are sufficient to increase persuasion action tendency. When costs are higher, higher levels of both issue importance and normative support are necessary to increase persuasion action tendency. In addition, content analysis of messages sent to in-group deviants show that high potential costs and low levels of issue importance reduce the proportion of messages sent that are persuasive. These results are discussed in terms of theories of approach/avoidance and social identity.

The Social Identity Model of Cessation Maintenance: Formulation and initial evidence

“…However, if group members persistently, intentionally and seriously violate group norms, they attract escalated responses. Group members are highly sensitive to such norm violations, particularly when they come from members of groups to which they identify highly (e.g., Frings, Abrams, Marques, & Randsley de Moura, 2010), and norm-violation can result in attempts to correct the behavior, derogation and social exclusion or actual/symbolic marginalization. These forms of behavior protect the group in a number of ways.…”

Psychological Distance and Likeablity of in- Or Out-Group Targets Who Hold Different Opinions

“…Previous studies have not paid particular attention to the types of topics used to test value systems, and have most often included topics related to current social issues, or topics related to gender and race, rather than the question of war. There is evidence, however, that peoples' reactions and motivations are swayed by how important or serious a topic is to them, or to their in-group (Frings et al, 2010). War issues might have been a highly important and serious topic to the participants in this study.…”

“…We investigate whether fluctuation in likeability of the target before and after reading the essay covaried with fluctuation in psychological distance. Previous research has been mainly investigated psychological response to nonmatching opinions between the perceiver and the target (e.g., Eidelman et al, 2006;Frings, Abrams, Randsley de Moura, & Marques, 2010), however, this study expanded this concept and included matching opinions in an effort to gather a more comprehensive understanding of the covariation between psychological distance and likeability.…”

“…The choice of a clear topic can impact how participants respond to a target and how participants are motivated (Frings et al, 2010). For example, Eidelman et al (2006) tested covariations of exclusion and impression in the U.S. using the Iraq war as the topic and the Democratic and Republican parties as in-and out-groups.…”

Engaging Teammates in the Promotion of Concussion Help Seeking

“…Intervention in groups is most likely to occur when the group considers the issue important and when there is a strong group norm in support of action (Frings, Abrams, Randsley de Moura, & Marques, 2010). Athletes who believe that their teammates would not report symptoms may believe that their team considers the issue of concussion reporting to be of relatively low importance.…”