A cross-cultural field experiment to determine the effects of a model's social status and specific task competence on imitation or conformity was conducted in Taiwan, Republic of China, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. The results indicated that Chinese were more conforming than Americans and that, in both countries, the model's status had a significant effect and competence a negligible effect on conformity. A status-by-competence interaction for Americans and for both groups combined indicated that a high-status model was imitated slightly more if low in competence, but a low-status model was imitated only if he was highly competent.
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