Social psychology’s great lesson is the enormous power of social influence. This influence can be seen in
our conformity, our obedience to authority, and our group behavior. Suicides, bomb threats, airplane
hijackings, and UFO sightings all have a curious tendency to come in clusters. On campus, jeans are the
dress code; on New York’s Wall Street or London’s Bond Street, dress suits are the norm. When we know
how to act, how to groom, how to talk, life functions smoothly. Armed with social influence principles,
advertisers, fundraisers, and campaign workers aim to sway our decisions to buy, to donate, to vote.
Isolated with others who share their grievances, dissenters may gradually become rebels, and rebels may
become terrorists. We’ll start by considering the nature of our cultural influences. Then we will examine
the pull of our social strings. How strong are they? How do they operate? When do we break them?
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