Conformity: Social Change

Question 1

What are the 6 steps required for social change to occur

Answer 1

• drawing attention
• consistency
• deeper processing
• the augmentation principle
• the snowball effect
• social cryptomnesia

Question 2

Give an example of a minority influence event from history

Answer 2

• African American civil rights movement

Question 3

Outline an example of ‘deeper processing’ from the civil rights movement

Answer 3

• the civil rights marches of 1950’s America drew attention to the situation by proving social proof of the problem

Question 4

Outline an example of ‘consistency’ from the civil rights movement

Answer 4

Many marches and many people taking part

Question 5

Outline an example of ‘deeper processing’ from the civil rights movement

Answer 5

• many people who had seen these marches etc begun to think about the injustice of the status quo

Question 6

Outline an example of ‘the augmentation principle’ from the civil rights movement

Answer 6

• many incidents where individuals risked their lives
• e.g. the ‘freedom riders’ - got on buses to challenge the fact black peoples still had to sit separate from white people, many were beaten

Question 7

Outline an example of ‘the snowball effect’ from the civil rights movement

Answer 7

• civil rights activists (martin Luther king) continued to press for changes
• eventually got attention of the gov - 1964 - Us civil rights act prohibited discrimination

Question 8

Outline an example of ‘social cryptomnesia’ from the civil rights movement

Answer 8

-there is not doubt that social change did come about but some people have no memory of the events

Question 9

What are the three evaluation points for social change

Answer 9

• research support for normative influences
• minority influence is only indirectly effective
• role of deeper processing

Question 10

Outline ‘research support for normative influences’ as an evaluation point for social change

Answer 10

• Nolan et al - hung messages on front doors in San Diego every week for a month
• the key message was that most residents were trying to reduce their energy levels
• Nolan et al found significant decreases in energy usage

Question 11

Outline ‘minority influence is only indirectly effective’ as an evaluation point for social change

Answer 11

• social change happens slowly if at at, for example, it has taken taken for views on smoking to shift
• nemeth - the effects of minority influence are most likely to be indirect or delayed
• this shows the effects of minority influence are fragile

Question 12

Outline ‘role of deeper processing ’ as an evaluation point for social change

Answer 12

• msocovis conversion explanation of minority influence agues minority influence causes individuals to think more deeply about an issue than majority infleunce
• Mackie - disputes this and argues majority influence may create deeper processing if you do not share their beliefs, because we like to think everyone around us shares our ideas etc