ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on those social situations in which individuals may reasonably be considered as potential causal agents. It attempts to specify a simple framework consisting of two major components and a set of situational considerations for predicting the amount of power attributed to an actor, or to the self, from knowledge of the course of a particular interaction. Attributions of power made by the self, by the person being influenced, and by an outside observer will be examined in the context of this framework. Interpersonal power, as John Schopler has noted, is typically defined as the induction of change in another person. The attribution of interpersonal power—perceiving that person A has caused a change in person B—involves a judgment about how much of the change observed in B was caused by A. Aronson and Linder tested the effects of differing sequences of personal evaluation upon interpersonal attraction.
