The status and factions theory of influence

We review a relatively new theoretical research program on the joint effects of status and the distribution of opinions on social influence. The status and factions theory of influence combines sociological insights about status generalization with psychological research on how the distribution of opinions promotes social influence. To date, several published studies support the logic of the theory, including how the effect of status varies with the distribution of opinions and the intervening theoretical mechanism. The former has been replicated a number of times, but only one study to date has truly tested the mechanism. Uncertainty reduction has been found to explain some of the joint effects of status and the distribution of opinions on social influence, but there is room for improvement. Consequently, after we discuss the existing literature, we identify additional mechanisms that may be worth pursuing in the future and also some applications of the theory's utility.