The document discusses 10 important social theories including social comparison theory, social conformity experiments, obedience experiments, and social identity theory. It provides background on social psychologists like Leon Festinger, Solomon Asch, Stanley Milgram, and Henri Tajfel and summarizes key findings from their experiments exploring how people compare themselves to others, conform to group pressure, and obey authority. The purpose is to identify important social theories for building useful online communities.

1. Corporate Digital
Communities – do
they work?
#smwldn, #Cassinthenews
@chinwag, @brightlemon
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2. 10 Social Theories
You Need To Know
10 Social Theories You Need To Know – SMWLondon 2012 - #SMWLondon
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3. 5 Social Theories
You Need To Know
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4. BrightLemon
Create useful communities of like-minded people
10 Social Theories You Need To Know – SMWLondon 2012 - #SMWLondon
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5. Social theory: timeline
1896 1898 1908 1954 1954
GroupMind /
Social Network Social Social
GroupThink
Facilitation Extentiality Learning Comparison
1955 1960s 1971 1970 1992
Obedience
Social
& Six Roles Social Dunbar’s
Conformity
Degrees (significance) Identity Number
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6. Social Comparison,
Social Conformity &
Obedience
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7. Image Source: http://howtoliveinasociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/urinal-42.jpg
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8. Social Comparison
Leon Festinger’s (1954) Social
Comparison theory states that
individuals compare themselves
to others in order to assess their
opinion.
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9. Image Source: http://images.wikia.com/ghostbusters/images/1/1e/Venkman_01.jpg
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10. Image Source: http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/asch_conformity.gif
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11. Social Conformity
Solomon Asch’s (1955) Social
Conformity experiments
concluded that a surprising
majority of us yield to group
pressure.
(75% conformed at least once)
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12. Image Source: pics.ricardostatic.ch/2_651030254_Big/dvds-code-2-europa-/the-stanley-milgram-experiment-obedience-to-authority-rare.jpg
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13. Obedience
Experiments
Stanley Milgram’s (1960s)
obedience experiments
observed how disproportionately
compliant we are when
following orders.
(65% administered 450 volts)
(2010 French TV show “Le Jeu De La Mort” 64/80 or 80%)
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14. Roles &
Social Identity
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15. http://azatty.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/security-guard-1.jpg
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16. Roles: significance
Philip Zimbardo’s (1971)
infamous prison experiment
highlighted how the roles we
are given dictate our patterns of
behaviour.
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17. http://themoderatevoice.com/wordpress‐engine/files/cat_police_dogs.jpg
http://themoderatevoice.com/wordpress-engine/files/cat_police_dogs.jpg
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18. Social Identity
Henri Tajfel’s (1970) Social
Identity theory - the theory that
we define ourselves and sense of
self by the “in-groups” that we
feel we belong to.
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19. User Needs
Use Cases
Stakeholder needs
User Stories
User Journeys
Personas
Demographics
Site Audit
Analytics
>> Social Theory <<
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20. Identify social theories
tweet:
@brightlemon
#smwldn
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21. Thank you.
Leon Tong
BrightLemon.com
leon@brightlemon.com
020 7608 2838
@brightlemon
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