Understanding Social Influence in Medical Education

Many aspects of the medical education system lead trainees to a host of maladaptive reactions and behaviors, but far too little attention has been focused on the impact that interactions between teacher and learner can have on the development of professionalism. The authors discuss the concept of “social influence,” a change of attitude, belief, or behavior resulting from the actions of another person in the context of the medical education setting. Using the example of a medical student who has not adequately completed his inpatient medicine requirements, they identify ten strategies of social influence that a medical educator might invoke to change the student's behavior and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of these strategies. This overview can be used by faculty to explore new strategies of teaching and to reflect on their current teaching styles.

[1]  L. Festinger,et al.  A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance , 2017 .

[2]  Santiago Sánchez Pagés.  Conflict and Power , 2003, Brave Talk.

[3]  I. Frieze.  Women and Sex Roles: A Social Psychological Perspective , 1978 .

[4]  D. Winter.  The power motive. , 1974 .

[5]  G. Fisher.  Doctoring Together: A Study of Professional Social Control , 1981 .

[6]  J. R. French,et al.  The bases of social power. , 1959 .

[7]  Mary Anne Devanna.  Men and Women of the Corporation , 1978 .

[8]  B. Raven.  A power/interaction model of interpersonal influence: French and Raven thirty years later. , 1992 .

[9]  M. R. Leippe,et al.  The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence , 1991 .

[10]  R. Cialdini.  Influence: Science and Practice , 1984 .

[11]  The Powerholders , 1977 .

[12]  H. Lips,et al.  Women, Men, And Power , 1981 .

[13]  William Foote Whyte,et al.  The Social Structure of the Restaurant , 1949, American Journal of Sociology.

[14]  E. Epstein,et al.  Boys in White: Student Culture in Medical School , 1962 .

[15]  J. B. Shaw,et al.  Predicting job stress using data from the Position Analysis Questionnaire. , 1983, The Journal of applied psychology.

[16]  J. Tedeschi,et al.  Power Bases of Faculty Supervisors and Educational Outcomes for Graduate Students. , 1996 .

[17]  P. Swingle,et al.  The structure of conflict , 1970 .

[18]  B. Barry,et al.  Communication Aspects of Dyadic Social Influence in Organizations: A Review and Integration of Conceptual and Empirical Developments , 1996 .

[19]  T. Newton,et al.  Role stress reexamined: An investigation of role stress predictors , 1987 .

[20]  Cecilia M. Falbe,et al.  Patterns of Influence Behavior for Managers , 1993 .