FROM PRIVATE ATTITUDE TO PUBLIC-OPINION - A DYNAMIC THEORY OF SOCIAL IMPACT

A computer simulation modeled the change of attitudes in a population resulting from the interactive, reciprocal, and recursive operation of Latané's (1981) theory of social impact, which specifies principles underlying how individuals are affected by their social environment. Surprisingly, several macrolevel phenomena emerged from the simple operation of this microlevel theory, including an incomplete polarization of opinions reaching a stable equilibrium, with coherent minority sub-groups managing to exist near the margins of the whole population. Computer simulations, neglected in group dynamics for 20 years, may, as in modern physics, help determine the extent to which group-level phenomena result from individual-level processes.