Referent Informational Influence Theory

History and Background

Referent informational influence theory arises from social identity theory and, more specifically, self-categorization theory. It was developed by John Turner and his colleagues as the conceptual component dealing with social influence. According to Turner and colleagues, social influence results from the process of self-categorization, whereby individuals come to see themselves as group members and thus in possession of the same group-defining attributes as other members of their group. Through the processes of self-categorization and referent informational influence, individuals come to learn about the appropriate ways of thinking and behaving as a group member and assign these characteristics to themselves.

In referent informational influence theory, the traditional distinction between informational and normative influence is replaced by a single process. For group members, what is normative is highly informative about appropriate and correct beliefs and behaviors in particular contexts. Moreover, the subjective validity of information is established by ingroup norms; information from members of our groups is seen as more valid than information from members of other groups.

In referent informational influence theory, conformity to the group norm is the result of a threestage process. First, people must categorize themselves and identify as group members. Then, as a consequence of self-categorization, a context-specific group norm is constructed from available, and usually shared, social comparative information. Because the identity-consistent behavior of prototypical group members is a direct source of such information, these people often occupy an effective leadership role in the groupan idea that underpins Michael Hogg's social identity theory of leadership. The newly formed norm is represented as a group prototype that serves to describe and prescribe the beliefs, attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that maximize the differences between groups and minimize the differences within groups (the metacontrast principle).

Finally, group members internalize these norms through assimilation of the self to the prototype (a process called depersonalization) and use them as guides to their own behavior. Moreover, because the norm is internalized as part of the individual's selfconcept and is linked to his or her membership in that group, the norm exerts influence over behavior even in the absence of surveillance by other group members. Identificationbased conformity is a process not of surface behavioral compliance but of genuine cognitive internalization of group attitudes as one's own.

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