Processes in Social Change

Question 1

Define social change

Answer 1

Changes in attitudes, behaviours or laws that take place on a large scale and affect all of society

Question 2

What are the 5 steps to minority influence?

Answer 2

1. Drawing attention to the issue
2. Cognitive conflict - results in the majority group members thinking more deeply about the issue
3. Consistency of position
4. The augmentation principle = if they appear to be willing to suffer for their views, they are seen as more committed and are taken more seriously.
5. The snowball effect = as the idea spreads, more and more people consider the issue until it reaches a tipping point where the minority becomes the majority and there is wide - scale social change.

Question 3

What are the positives of social change through minority influence ?

Answer 3

• psychologists found that publicly expressed views on gay rights followed the majority viewpoint but that privately expressed opinions shifted towards the minority viewpoint. It did not matter whether these views were positive or negative ; participants would publicly comply with the majority but be privately converted to the minority viewpoint. This indicates that minority influence is required to make people change their privately held beliefs and allow social change.
• some psychologists found that participants who were exposed to both majority and minority influence converged, with little thought, on majority responses. However, the presence of minority influence stimulated more creative thinking and more active information processing. Over time this may lead people to question their views on important social issues.

Question 4

What are the negatives of social change through minority influence?

Answer 4

• a meta - analysis suggests that people who are confronted with a minority viewpoint on important social issues tend to not only resist an appearance of agreement with the minority, but also privately resist agreement as well.

Question 5

Describe how social change can occur through majority influence

Answer 5

Conformity :

• people alter their behaviour to fit the social norm
• behaviour is based on the perceived norm rather than actual norm
• the gap between actual norm and perceived norm is referred to as misperception and correcting this as the basis for an approach to social change is known as social norms interventions
• SNI works by identifying a widespread misconception and then correcting it through media campaigns, promotional material etc
• the aim is to communicate the actual norm so people will moderate their own behaviour to bring it more in line with the behaviour of their peers

Obedience :
- changing laws means people are inclined to obey them and thus social change occurs

Question 6

What are the positives of social change through majority influence?

Answer 6

• a study found that adolescents exposed to the simple message that the majority of their peers did not smoke were subsequently less likely to take up smoking
• the US state of Montana had a problem with alcohol - related car crashes with 21-34 year olds. While only 20% of people in this age group had driven after drinking, 92% of this age group believed that the majority of their peers did this. By correcting the misperception with adverts stating that skit young adults do not drink and drive, alcohol - related car crashes were massively - reduced.

Question 7

What are the negatives of social change through majority influence?

Answer 7

Not all social norm interventions lead to social change. Psychologists tested the effectiveness of social norms marketing campaigns to bring down the use of alcohol among students across 14 different college sites. Surveys were conducted at the start of the intervention and three years later. Students did not show lower perceptions of other students drinking or lower alcohol consumption themselves.