ABSTRACT
As we have seen in chapter 1, one of the most fundamental assumptions about social groups is that the members of those groups will be similar to each other, in the sense that they share important values and beliefs {Asch, 1955; Bar-Tal, 1990, 2000; Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950; Newcomb, 1943, 1961, 1963; Sherif, 1936; J. c. Turner, 1991}. Although this sharing occurs in part because similar individuals are likely to initially join or form
groups, similarity is also increased as the group functions, through the tendency for group members to act in ways that lead other group members to come to share their beliefs. The focus of this chapter is on when and how this sharing-or sodal influence-occurs. We will see that social influence is a ubiquitous part of social life, occurring both in small working groups as well as in large social categories.
