Paul R. Nail

University of Central Arkansas | UCA · Department of Psychology and Counseling

Within this paper we explore the idea of a critical value representing the proportion of majority members within a group that affects dramatic changes in influence targets’ conformity. We consider the threshold q-voter model when the responses of the Willis-Nail model, a well-established two-dimensional model of social response, are used as a found...

Derivation of an effective potential and Landau’s approach. (PDF)

Derivation of formulas for the critical points and stationary states. (PDF)

Transition rates in the exact mathematical formulations of the models. (PDF)

Pearson correlation coefficient derivation. (PDF)

Raw data used to produce plots in the paper.

We introduce a new agent-based model of opinion dynamics in which binary opinions of each agent can be measured and described regarding both pre- and post-influence at both of two levels, public and private, vis-à-vis the influence source. The model combines ideas introduced within the q-voter model with noise, proposed by physicists, with the desc...

The revised compensation model of aggression posits that bullying is driven by defensive personality, not low self-esteem. Supporting research has failed to distinguish bullies vs. bully-victims (i.e., bullies who are also victims). In three studies with middle school students on two continents, pure bullies and bully-victims scored higher in defen...

Models of social response concern the identification and delineation of possible responses to social pressure. Most models are based on simple one-dimensional conceptualizations of conformity and its alternatives even though more sophisticated models have been available for a number of years. The diamond model is perhaps the most refined of the two...

The two-dimensional diamond model of social response (Nail and Van Leeuwen, 1993; Willis, 1965) provides for four basic influence processes, whereas conventional one-dimensional models (e.g., Asch, 1951; Argyle, 1957) suggest at most only three: conformity, independence, and anticonformity. The authors present the formal logic underlying the diamon...

According to the compensation model of aggression (Staub, 1989), some people bully to defend against their own feelings of weakness and vulnerability. Classmates and teachers rated a sample of American sixth graders in terms of trait: defensiveness (i.e., defensive egotism), self-esteem, bullying, and related behaviors. Consistent with the model, s...

Ideological differences in nationalism and patriotism are well-known and frequently exploited, but the question of why conservatives exhibit stronger national attachment than liberals has been inadequately addressed. Drawing on theories of system justification and political ideology as motivated social cognition, we proposed that increased patrioti...

In two experiments (Ns = 105 and 49) the most grandiose individuals with the lowest implicit self-esteem became particularly callous toward their suffering peers after receiving praise about their own personality attributes. Self-reported grandiosity belied by low implicit self-esteem reflects the classic view of narcissism as defensive pride that...

Bullying is a complex social phenomenon that crosses age, ethnicity, and national boundaries. Originally coined as “mobbing,” by Olweus in 1972 (Espelage & Swearer, 2003), bullying tends to involve a bully, a victim, and other individuals in a variety of roles that can take the form of an active presence (e.g., bully assistant or victim defender),...

Models of social response concern the identification and delineation of possible responses to social pressure. Previous efforts toward a unified model have been limited to conceptualizations that define conformity and its alternatives based on discrete categories (e.g., Montgomery, 1992; Nail et al., 2000). Social response in many settings, however...

A major weakness with recent research and theoretical advancements in the area of coalition formation is that most of the efforts have been limited strictly to deterministic formats, while in many instances outside the laboratory the success of a coalition is not certain. Extensions of three theories of coalition formation behaviour (minimum resour...

Two theories of coalition behaviour, bargaining theory (Komorita & Chertkoff, 1973) and the weighted probability model (Komorita, 1974), were tested utilizing data from a single trial of bargaining. It is proposed that previous studies did not adequately compare the two theories either because they employed aggregate data which masked information r...

This research examined reports of the real-world use of reverse psychology, or what we term strategic self-anticonformity (SSA). In Study 1, participants reported examples in which they engaged in SSA and rated the success and frequency of use of this influence tactic. These data suggested the existence of two forms of SSA, one used as a general pe...

Nail and McGregor (2009) reported that a sample of Americans drawn soon after the Al Qaeda attacks on 9/11/01 reported more conservative political attitudes than a similar sample drawn in 2000. This conservative shift was strongest on two items with direct relevance to 9/11/01, George W. Bush and Increasing Military Spending, but also extended to t...

Political orientation and political attitudes were measured in two independent adult samples. One sample was taken several months before the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01; the other, shortly after. Liberal and conservative participants alike reported more conservative attitudes following 9/11/01 than before. This conservative shift was strongest on...

In Study 1, politically liberal college students’ in-group favoritism increased after a system-injustice threat, becoming as pronounced as that of conservatives. Studies 2 and 3 conceptually replicated these results with low preference for consistency [Cialdini, R. B., Trost, M. R., & Newsom, J. T. (1995). Preference for consistency: The developmen...

Politically liberal and conservative White Americans were asked to evaluate a legal case in which a police officer was acquitted of assault charges against a motorist in state court but then retried in federal court. When the initiator of the assault was unspecified, liberals perceived a violation of double jeopardy significantly more for a Black o...

Failure (Study 1) and attachment separation thoughts (Study 2) caused exaggerated consensus estimates for personal beliefs about unrelated social issues. This compensatory consensus effect was most pronounced among defensively proud individuals, that is, among those with the combination of high explicit and low implicit self-esteem (Study 1) and th...

In this paper, we highlight the importance of the distinction between public and private attitudes in research on attitude change. First, we clarify the definitions of public and private attitudes by locating the researcher as a potential source of influence. In a test of this definition, we compare participant reports of potentially embarrassing b...

High or low self-esteem individuals participated in a role-playing paradigm in which a friend stood them up for a dinner date. The participants received either a good explanation from the friend for the missed date (sufficient justification) or a poor explanation (insufficient justification). As predicted by self-affirmation theory (Steele, 1988),...

Descriptive models of social response are concerned with identifying and discriminating between different types of response to social influence. In a previous article (Nail, MacDonald, & Levy, 2000), the authors demonstrated that 4 conceptual dimensions are necessary to adequately distinguish between such phenomena as conformity, compliance, contag...

Conducted in the fall of 2000, this study investigates personality and social variables that should predict attitudes regarding the desirability of prosecuting President Clinton for perjury following the expiration of his term (in January of 2001). Prosecution was favored by High Preference for Consistency (PFC) more than Low PFC individuals, by Hi...

According to J. F. Dovidio and S. L. Gaertner's (1998) integrated model of racism, politically liberal European Americans tend to express racism differently than conservative European Americans, with liberals demonstrating aversive racism and conservatives, symbolic or modern racism. In support of the model, in Experiment 1 liberals showed bias in...

Preference for consistency (PFC) refers to the value some people place on potential human characteristics such as stability, predictability, and reliability. Participants scoring high or low on the PFC Scale [Cialdini, R. B.,Trost, M. R., & Newsom, J. T.(1995). Preference for consistency: The development of a valid measure and the discovery of surp...

Descriptive models of social response attempt to identify the conceptual dimensions necessary to define and distinguish various types of influence. Building on previous approaches, the authors propose a new response model and demonstrate that a minimum of 4 dimensions is necessary to adequately provide for such influence phenomena as conformity, mi...

Descriptive models of social response attempt to identify the conceptual dimensions necessary to define and distinguish various types of influence. Building on previous approaches, the authors propose a new response model and demonstrate that a minimum of 4 dimensions is necessary to adequately provide for such influence phenomena as conformity, mi...

A reformulation of social influence theory is presented as a taxonomy, decision tree, and glossary of key terms. Types of social influence are sorted on the basis of four "Fundamental Interpersonal Influence Distinctions": (a) level of cognitive processing (conscious vs. nonconscious); (b) perceived intentionality (intentional vs. unintentional vs....

Participants read a communication that either strongly or weakly threatened their attitudinal freedom under conditions of public or private responding. In addition, participants indicated how important the issue understudy was to them. Consistent with Heilman and Toffler's (1976) self-presentational version of reactance theory and research by Baer,...

Eighty male subjects participated in a tetradic weighted-majority game in which a coalition was required to control the division of the payoff. The amount of the payoff and/of the probability of receiving the payoff were varied. The data strongly supported the hypothesis that subjects would prefer the coalition with the largest expected value (size...

We have reviewed theories and research in the area of contagion with an emphasis on definitions of contagion. The review shows that a great deal of the confusion surrounding the term is due to the fact that the phenomena involved in contagion are extremely heterogeneous, yet they typically have been placed under homogeneous rubrics. Accordingly, we...

Five descriptive models of social response are review, with emphasis on Willis's bidimensional diamond model. Even though the diamond model has never been widely accepted or used, it has advantages over alternative models, both in its conceptual sophistication and in its practical utility. Conceptually, the diamond model is actually a family of mod...

According to the diamond model (DM) of social response (P. R. Nail, [unpublished paper]; R. H. Willis, 1965), a bidimensional response space is necessary to provide for the possible responses in social influence settings. Exp 1 tested DM predictions with 40 undergraduates in a context that simulated social influence processes. Evidence was found fo...

Argues that one of the greatest impediments to the theoretical integration of social influence/conformity research is the disagreement among theorists about what conceptual variables are necessary to operationally define and distinguish conformity from other possible responses to social influence. A framework is proposed that is a synthesis of two...

This study was conducted to test Rodin's hypothesis that overweight individuals are generally less internally responsive than individuals of normal weight. Forty-six males and 51 females classified as normal, overweight, and obese estimated the duration of a 15-minute interval in a context with minimal external cues. Contrary to Rodin's data, which...

Thesis (M.S.)--Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Includes bibliographical references.