Social Impact and the Will of the People

Propaganda in our day and age is omnipresent. Everywhere you go there are advertisements showing off a product, there are politicians gunning for a seat of power, there are countless news stories that show only one side of a story, and there are many traps that people seem to find themselves falling into because of propaganda. Propaganda is widely known, people know how and why it works and yet people still seem to be suckered in by it. Over time propaganda has proven to be the most obvious yet effective means of persuasion. People are willing to take whatever people throw at them at face value, rarely questioning what they see. Politics are a great example of this "blind faith" about propaganda. During elections political advertisements only show the side of an argument that makes their candidate look good, while making the opposing candidate look as appalling as possible on television. People have become so divided politically that the only two parties that have a chance of getting elected are the Republican and the Democratic parties. Each party shows advertisements, makes promises, creates catchy slogans, and successfully rallies close to an army of supporters for their cause. The people believe so much that their candidate is the right one for the country, and some are even willing to go to extreme lengths to assure their candidates victory. Most of these political claims however turn out to be falsifications, stretches, or downright lies. The politicians are using propaganda to win favor over the hearts and minds of the people. People are aware of how and why propaganda works, the information regarding the strengths and weaknesses of propaganda are readily available but it still works. One psychological explanation for why propaganda works so well is the Social Impact Theory. The Social Impact Theory states that the likelihood that a person will respond to social influences will increase with Strength: how important the influencing group is to you, Immediacy: how close the group are to you, and Number: how many people there are in the influencing group. (changingminds.org) One can easily look at the Social Impact Theory at times of presidential elections. When strength is analyzed the Republican and Democratic parties are incredibly powerful and the most influential political parties in America. If one were to look at immediacy it would be shown that during election years new political commercials are released constantly on television and the internet, so people are hardly given an opportunity to forget about the stressful election for a while. If one were to look at number the Republicans and the Democrats have amassed close to an army of supporters each election and even after wards people are either Republicans or Democrats. With such strong credentials for the Social Impact Theory, it's no wonder that people get caught up in these heated debates over politics. All new forms of propaganda are incessantly released for elections, and people are the most politically active and rallied during the new presidential elections. The ways to counter the Social Impact theory are to reduce the Strength, Immediacy, and Number as much as possible, but in America doing so is impossible. The media is in place to prevent such a reduction, and are always bashing or praising politicians. All one can hope for is that people will take the time to research and think for themselves, and try to see through the propaganda, to see through what may or may not be true.

Sources: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/social_impact.htm