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Lecture

Social Influence and Choice

In course

CS-234: Technologies for democratic society

This course will offer students a broad but hands-on introduction to technologies of human self-organization. ...

Description

This lecture covers the concepts of social influence, choice, democracy, individual autonomy, and equality. The instructor discusses the moral strength of democracy, emphasizing individual autonomy and equality in decision-making. Various models of influence are presented, including influence weights and their impact on decision stages. The lecture also explores the influence of social factors on decision-making, such as voting and resource allocation. Additionally, exceptions to equality in income distribution are discussed, highlighting the disparities between different income groups. The lecture concludes with a discussion on technologies for societal self-organization and the implications of influence in societal structures.

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Instructors (2)

Verónica del Carmen Estrada Galiñanes

Bryan Alexander Ford

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Politics

Political science: Comparative politics

Related concepts (32)

Social influence

Social influence comprises the ways in which individuals adjust their behavior to meet the demands of a social environment. It takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. Typically social influence results from a specific action, command, or request, but people also alter their attitudes and behaviors in response to what they perceive others might do or think. In 1958, Harvard psychologist Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.

Voting

Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, convenes together for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting. Residents of a jurisdiction represented by an elected official are called "constituents", and the constituents who choose to cast a ballot for their chosen candidate are called "voters.

Electronic voting

Electronic voting (also known as e-voting) is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting ballots. Depending on the particular implementation, e-voting may use standalone electronic voting machines (also called EVM) or computers connected to the Internet (online voting). It may encompass a range of Internet services, from basic transmission of tabulated results to full-function online voting through common connectable household devices.

Normative social influence

Normative social influence is a type of social influence that leads to conformity. It is defined in social psychology as "...the influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them." The power of normative social influence stems from the human identity as a social being, with a need for companionship and association. Normative social influence involves a change in behaviour that is deemed necessary in order to fit in a particular group.

Voting machine

A voting machine is a machine used to record votes in an election without paper. The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use electronic voting machines. Traditionally, a voting machine has been defined by its mechanism, and whether the system tallies votes at each voting location, or centrally. Voting machines should not be confused with tabulating machines, which count votes done by paper ballot. Voting machines differ in usability, security, cost, speed, accuracy, and ability of the public to oversee elections.

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