ABSTRACT
Tf he idea that individuals' attitudes and behaviors are susceptible to social influence reflects widely shared common sense. Numerous research find-ings also have been presented that underscore this notion (see Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Petty & Cacioppo, 1981). After all in everyday life, we are the
Address correspondence to: Herbert Bless, Mikrosoziologie und Sozialpsychologie, Fakultát fur Sozialwissenschaften, Universitat Mannheim, D-68131 Mannheim, Germany; E-mail: hbless@sowi.uni.mannheim.de
168 SOCIAL INFLUENCE
target as well as the initiator of attempts to change other s attitudes and behaviors (Cialdini, this volume). In contrast to the widely accepted idea that our attitudes and behaviors are prone to social influence, the idea that our memory could be influenced by others appears as a rather disturbing thought. Could it really be possible that we believe we remember something simply because others have talked us into that-or is this phenomena restricted to science fiction novels and movies? Social psychology textbooks seem to imply the latter and often restrict the definition of social influence to an effort on the part of one person to change behaviors or attitudes1 of others (e.g., Baron & Byrne, 1994). The idea that individuals' memory can be influenced by others is rarely mentioned.
