The Social Influence Theory: Processes and Determinants

Theories of social influence and changes in JS behaviour

The social influence theory, proposed by Kelman (1958), points out that an individual’s attitudes, beliefs and subsequent actions and behaviours are influenced by referent others. This happens through the processes of compliance, identification and internalisation. Kelman argued that changes in action and attitude are brought about by social influence and the possibility of changes occurring at different levels (Goldsmith, 2011). The differences in the processes through which people embrace influence account for the differences in the change levels. Under the process of compliance, an assumption is made that compliance happens when people accept influence and subsequently adopt induced behaviours or approval, and avoid punishment, that is, disapproval (Pratkanis, 2011). Therefore, the social effect of acceptance of influence is the source of satisfaction from compliance. The other process of identification happens whenever individuals adopt induced behaviours for purposes of creating and maintaining desired relationships that are also beneficial to other groups and people. Therefore, the actions of conformance are the sources of satisfaction. For the third process, there is an assumption that internalisation happens at the point when individuals accept influence after they have perceived the contents of the induced behaviours to be rewarding, in which the content is indicative of other peoples actions and opinions (Fredkin and Johnsen, 2011). The adoption of induced behaviour by individuals is after they have realised that it is congruent with their value system. In the process of internalisation, satisfaction, therefore emanates from the new behaviours content.

It is worth noting that it is possible to represent each of the three processes through the use of a function, after the three influence determinants have been followed. These determinants of influence are a) the anticipated effects relative importance, b) the influencing agent’s relative power, and c) the induced responses prepotency. Therefore, every individual process has a distinctive set of antecedent conditions; in the same breath, all processes lead to a set of consequent conditions that are distinctive.

The effects of alcohol on the central nervous system

The brain and the spinal cord make up the central nervous system and these two organs always have to be in a strong and working order so that an individual can be able to function to their full capacity. Alcohol use has however, been found to take a toll on the central nervous system. Zoethout et al. (2011), report that even in small and moderate doses, alcohol has the potential of impairing memory, and additionally making it difficult to reason and make sound judgements. Those who consume alcohol commonly experience, delayed reaction times, poor coordination, impaired vision, impaired hearing, and inabilities to effectively drive. This is exactly what happened to JS making her unable to notice that the car that was in front of her had suddenly stopped. Other unpleasant effects that commonly result from consuming alcohol include sleep interruptions, anxiety, depression, panic feelings, and in extreme scenarios, suicidal tendencies. Long-term abuse of alcohol has even been found to contribute to dementia, neuropathy, and the more (Mohanty, 2013)

Alcohol has effects on the different neurotransmitters that are found in the brain including glutamate which is responsible for the functioning of the brain. When one drinks enough alcohol, the alcohols depressant effect goes a long way in reducing their breathing and heart rate. When no medical attention is accorded, this can become deadly (Pruznak et al. 2013). The central nervous system has the responsibility of transmitting information through the five senses, in addition to cognitive functions and motor function. Additionally, the system controls emotion. Alcohol made the nerve cells in JS brain less excited, effectively slowing them down. It is worth noting that alcohol affects different people’s brains in different ways, and ultimately negatively affects the brain in the long run (Oscar-Berman and Marinkociv, 2007).

Alcohol reduces the speed with which an individual reacts to changes in road conditions. JS was not able to immediately detect that the car in front of her had suddenly stopped, an indication of her reduced reaction time. There is also the possibility that JS was distracted and was not focused on the road. While alcohol could be a depressant, it leads people to losing focus, reducing the likelihood that an individual spots danger and has enough time to react. JS hazard perception was also seemingly hampered. Mukherjee (2013), report that even with only 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in an individual’s system, drivers who have been drinking are less capable of spotting danger.

Brain areas and functions affected by JS accident

JS appears to have experienced a traumatic brain injury and this is what is responsible for her personality changes. Injuries have the potential of altering how individuals process and comprehend information, and therefore, it is not surprising that injuries could also affect people’s emotions (Antona-Makoshi et al. 2018). JS personality changed and she was now often irritable and had angry outbursts from time to time, while in the past, she had always been short tempered. She also became impulsive and often made inappropriate comments at her place of work, which made most of her colleagues uncomfortable. She became increasingly disorganised, had difficulties concentrating and was easily distracted. These personality changes could possibly have originated from two sources, following her brain injury; specific psychological changes in the brain, which have an effect on how the brain takes in, processes and perceives information. The other source is emotional reactions that are natural responses to changes in human life brought about by JS brain injury. Brain injuries have the potential of disrupting the existing connections between neurons and the existing blood vessels in the brain (Leventhal et al. 2010). While it is possible for these pathways to return to normal after a few weeks, there are instances when the altered and inefficient manner of processing information and responding to the needs of the brain results in more long-lasting symptoms.

Brain injuries have the potential of damaging the connections that extend from the cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for memory, attention, perception, awareness and cognition, to the limbic system (Majdan et al. 2013). The limbic system offers support to different functions including motivation, behaviour and emotions. These are the connections that allow people to do evaluations of their emotional reactions, comprehend how events are, and make decisions on appropriate responses for situations at hand. During injuries, there are differences between these emotional responses, from what they were before the injury and are not always in sync with present situations. The hippocampus which converts short term memories into long term memories is also affected by injuries (Salem et al. 2013). The memory gives advice on how to respond to the environment and the surrounding world, and this includes determination of emotional responses. Generally, brain injuries disrupt the ways through which the brain processes emotions and information, leaving the injured individual vulnerable to different and unpleasant changes in mood.

Brain injuries are also emotionally traumatic. Mourning of the life one previously had and making attempts to cope with ongoing symptoms is quite normal. Whenever the brains neurovascular coupling becomes deregulated, the implication is that some of the regions of the brain become hypoactive, that is, they do not do their fair share, while others become hyperactive, that is, they attempt to do too much, or burn more resources than they should for the different tasks they carry out. The brain is forced to work overtime to do what it is supposed (Agrawal et al. 2012). This makes overstimulation easy and sensory inputs like noise, light and cognitive inputs like conversations, working and reading become overwhelming. This overstimulation is often, responsible for the majority of emotional symptoms.

To diagnose the brain areas that have been injured, medical exams come in handy and assessments comprise of neurological exams. This exams evaluate thinking, sensory function, motor function, eye movement, coordination and reflexes. Some commonly carried out imaging tests include CT scans, MRI scans, are unfortunately not capable of detecting all traumatic brain injuries and can only be used for some. Generally, Computed Tomography is the most common imaging technology that is used for purposes of assessing individuals who are suspected to have traumatic brain injury ranging from moderate to severe (De Gonzalez et al. 2016). CT scans work by way of creating a series of cross-sectional x-ray images of the brain and are instrumental in showing fractures, hematomas, swelling of brain tissues, contusions, and hydrocephalus.

Can the accident alone account for JS reported angry outbursts?

It is worth noting that while there are other factors that could be the cause of JS angry outbursts, the accident is the main cause. For example, anger is a rather common emotion among depressed individuals. They often feel angry at the world, about their past events, and even at themselves. The accident could have led to JS being depressed. The depression comes about from the related stress and anxiety related to being involved in an accident (Cernovsky et al. 2019). The emotional impacts of accidents and the related injuries, in the case of JS, her brain injury, have the potential of leading to depression, hopeless feelings, isolation, withdrawal, and suicidal thoughts. The anger could become increasingly difficult to control and more intense, to the extent that it hampers professional and personal relationships (Copanitsanou et al. 2018). It is worth noting that irritability is by itself a feature of depression, and it is therefore not surprising that the form of anger has connections with depression.

There is evidence that points to serotonergic dysfunction as being the cause of anger in depression (Kwon et al. 2021; Romero-Martinez et al. 2019). What this implies is that the balance of the existing neurochemicals present in the brain could be off-kitter, which subsequently leads to irritability, anger and depression. This anger is often tuned outwards as in the case of JS leading to her lashing at those around her. The probability of a depressed individual to feel irritable is higher and they have a higher propensity to snap at others, even over just trivial issues. Depression amplifies an individual’s negative emotions, which makes it hard for them to control the emotions, even though there is a high likelihood to feel bad about it after it happens (Liu et al. 2018).

Alcohol use has also been found to increase angry outbursts and is also a possible cause of JS angry outbursts. Alcohol use has different mental effects that tend to vary between different individuals. Alcohol, a depressant has been found to exacerbate the feelings of depression (Parrott and Eckhardt, 2018). Alcohol, use lowers the central nervous systems activity and has the potential of causing and worsening feelings of depression. There are people who however, consider alcohols effects to be those of a stimulant, implying that after a drink, one loosens up. Well, this effect is true for some people, however, over drinks, alcohols depressant effects begin to exhibit themselves. Alcohol targets the gamma-aminobutyic acid (GABA) receptors that are found in the brain. These receptors have a direct influence on an individual’s inhibitory and cognitive actions. This means that the receptors have an effect on different functions including speech, fine motor skills, reaction time, natural inhibitions and emotions. This is often responsible for the stimulating effect that comes about from use of alcohol. Harvey et al. (2017), report that there exists a correlation between the inability to read the emotions of another person and consuming alcohol. In the study, participants were encouraged to identify emotions in others including stress, anger, anxiety and sadness in others when they were sober. The results indicated that intoxication made it difficult for individuals to identify emotions in others, which could be one of the implications that causes individuals to have angry outbursts.

References

Agrawal, A., Galwankar, S., Kapil, V., Coronado, V., Basavaraju, S.V., McGuire, L.C., Joshi, R., Quazi, S.Z. and Dwivedi, S., 2012. Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of traumatic brain injuries in a rural setting in Maharashtra, India. 2007–2009. International journal of critical illness and injury science, 2(3), p.167.
Antona-Makoshi, J., Mikami, K., Lindkvist, M., Davidsson, J. and Schick, S., 2018. Accident analysis to support the development of strategies for the prevention of brain injuries in car crashes. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 117, pp.98-105.
Cernovsky, Z.Z., Istasy, P.V.F., Hernández-Aguilar, M.E., Mateos-Moreno, A., Bureau, Y. and Chiu, S., 2019. Quantifying post-accident neurological symptoms other than concussion. Archives of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 2(1), pp.50-54.
Copanitsanou, P., Drakoutos, E. and Kechagias, V., 2018. Posttraumatic stress, depressive emotions, and satisfaction with life after a road traffic accident. Orthopaedic nursing, 37(1), pp.43-53.
De Gonzalez, A.B., Salotti, J.A., McHugh, K., Little, M.P., Harbron, R.W., Lee, C., Ntowe, E., Braganza, M.Z., Parker, L., Rajaraman, P. and Stiller, C., 2016. Relationship between paediatric CT scans and subsequent risk of leukaemia and brain tumours: assessment of the impact of underlying conditions. British journal of cancer, 114(4), pp.388-394.
Friedkin, N.E. and Johnsen, E.C., 2011. Social influence network theory: A sociological examination of small group dynamics (Vol. 33). Cambridge University Press.
Goldsmith, E.B. and Goldsmith, R.E., 2011. Social influence and sustainability in households. International journal of consumer studies, 35(2), pp.117-121.
Harvey, S.T., Henricksen, A., Bimler, D. and Dickson, D., 2017. Addressing anger, stress, and alcohol-related difficulties in the military: an ACT intervention. Military Psychology, 29(5), pp.464-476.
Kwon, B., Lee, E.J., Park, S., Lee, J.S., Lee, M.H., Jeong, D., Lee, D., Kwon, H.S., Chang, D.I., Park, J.H. and Cha, J.K., 2021. Long-Term Changes in Post-Stroke Depression, Emotional Incontinence, and Anger. Journal of stroke, 23(2), p.263.
Liu, Y., Zhao, J. and Guo, W., 2018. Emotional roles of mono-aminergic neurotransmitters in major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Frontiers in psychology, 9, p.2201.
Majdan, M., Mauritz, W., Wilbacher, I., Janciak, I., Brazinova, A., Rusnak, M. and Leitgeb, J., 2013. Traumatic brain injuries caused by traffic accidents in five European countries: outcome and public health consequences. The European Journal of Public Health, 23(4), pp.682-687.
Mohanty, M., 2013. Alcohol and medication use in community-dwelling older adults: Understanding the effect of alcohol and central nervous system-acting medications on the risk for falls. Virginia Commonwealth University.
Mukherjee, S., 2013. Alcoholism and its effects on the central nervous system. Current neurovascular research, 10(3), pp.256-262.
Oscar-Berman, M., & Marinković, K. (2007). Alcohol: effects on neurobehavioral functions and the brain. Neuropsychology review, 17(3), 239-257.