Faculty Publications

The Bidirectional Relationship Between Social Influence and Culture

Document Type

Book Chapter

Keywords

Culture; Social influence; Cultural emergence; Cultural dynamics; Cultural evolution; Cultural differences

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Research Handbook on Social Influence

First Page

57

Last Page

71

Abstract

The relationship between culture and social influence is inherently bidirectional. In this chapter, we compare evolutionary, dynamical systems and ecological approaches to cultural emergence, focusing especially on dual inheritance theory, dynamic social impact theory, and the behavioral immune system. We describe research showing that social influence leads to relatively stable, overlapping, shared beliefs within groups. We also summarize theories that address how culture shapes social influence and review research on how cultural frameworks such as individualism/collectivism and tightness/looseness affect the nature and extent of that influence. We show that social influence in and of itself is sufficient to lead to cultural development, and that culture, in turn, affects the specific processes through which continuing social influence occurs. Finally, we make suggestions for future research to better understand the nuances of the relationship between culture and social influence by combining the insights of these various approaches.

Department

Department of Psychology

Original Publication Date

2-20-2025

DOI of published version

10.4337/9781035309672.00010

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