Social Influence Dynamics in Aptitude Tasks

Abstract

Learning and, more generally, the development of cognitive processes in children has been thought to depend on the nature of the conflict induced by confrontation with others (i.e., socio-cognitive conflict). The aim of this article is to extend this notion to social-influence situations involving adolescents and young adults through the presentation of a model that explains social influence in aptitude tasks. This model takes into account the differences or similarities of the competencies of the source and target. It conceptualizes the social versus epistemic regulations of conflict in terms of an identity threat that can be induced by social comparison. To illustrate parts of the model, several experiments are briefly summarized. One demonstrates the conflict regulation dynamics involved in the similarities or differences of the sources' and targets' competencies, while the others show how social-influence dynamics are modified by the presence or absence of a threat to self-competence.