ABSTRACT
Address for Correspondence: Deborah Terry, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072. E-mail: deborah@psyuq.edu.au
2 5 4 SOCIAL INFLUENCE
tions and attitude change has been conducted at this same level of abstraction. Indeed, the dominant tendency in the attitude change and persuasion literature has been to treat persuasive communication and social influence in groups as separate areas of research inquiry. Nevertheless, on the basis of social identity theory (Hogg & Abrams, 1988; Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner, 1982) and self-categorization theory (Turner, 1985; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987; see also David & Turner, this volume; Spears, Postmes, Lea, & Watt, this volume), a strong theoretical case can be made for the view that attitude change and persuasion cannot be well understood without reference to the wider social context of group memberships. Attitudes themselves can be regarded as social products to the extent that they are likely to be influenced by the norms and perceived expectations of groups to which people belong. Furthermore, norms of behaviorally-relevant social groups are likely to influence people s willingness to engage in attitudinally-consistent behavior-to do so may help to validate their group membership.
