psychology social influence and social change Flashcards
what is the lessons from minority influence research
african american civil rights movement 50s 60s
drawing attention-black and white segregation applied all parts america, civil rights marches drew attention to situation providing social proof of the problem
consistency-represented minority of american population but position remained consistent, millions people took part in marches over several years presenting same non aggressive messages
deeper processing of issue-people who had simply accepted status quo thought deeply about unjustness of it
augmentation principle-risked their lives numerous times, freedom riders mixed ethnic groups boarded buses in south challenging racial segregation of transport may beaten, personal risk demonstrates strong belief and reinforces their message
snowball effect-gradually got attention of us gov, more people backed minority position, 1964 us civil rights act prohibited discrimination making a change from minority to majority support for civil rights
social cryptomnesia-people have memory that change occurred but dont remember how, social change did come about so south different place now, some have no memory (cryptoamnesia) of events that led to change
what were the lessons from conformity research
dissent broke power of majority encouraging others to do likewise, potential to lead to social change
different approach used by environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity processes appealing to normative social influence, provide info about what other people are doing- reducing little by printing normative messages on litter bins bin it others do and preventing young people from smplong telling them others dont smoke, social change encouraged by drawing attention to what majority people are doing
what are lessons from obedience research
milgram-importance of disobedient role models, variation confederate teacher refuses to give shocks to learner the rate of obedience in genuine pps plummeted
zimbardo-obedience used to create social change through process of gradual commitment, small instruction obeyed it becomes more difficult to resist a bigger one, people essentially drift into new kind of behaviour
what is research support for normative influences
research shown that social influene processes based on psychological research do work
nolan-aimed to see if they could change peoples energu ise habits, researchers hung messages on front doors of houses cali every week for a month, some residents had different messages that asked them to save energy but made no reference to other peoples behaviour, signf decreases in energy usage in first group compared to second
conformity can lead to social change through operation of normative social influence
some studies show peoples behaviour isnt always changed through exposing them to social norms
foxcroft-reviewed social norms interventions as part of gold standard, included 70studies where social norms approach used to reduce student alcohol use, researchers found only small reduction in drinking quantity and no effect on drinking frequency
using normative influence doesnt always produce long term social change
what is minority influence explains change
psychologists can explain how minority influence brings about social change
nemeth- claims social change due to type of thinking that minorities inspire, people consider minority arguments they engage in divergent thinking, type of thinking is broad rather than narrow in which thinker actively searches for info and weighs up more options, this leads to better decisions an dmore creative solutions to social issues]
dissenting minorities are valuable they stimulate new ideas and open minds in a way that majorities cant
what is role of deeper processing
deeper processing may not play role in how minorities bring about social change
some people converted because they think more deeply about minoritys views
mackie-disagrees and presents evidence that it is majority influence that may create deeper processing if you dont share views, we like to believe that other people share our views and think in the same ways as us, find that majority believes something different forced to think long and hard about their arguments and reasoning
central element of minority influence has been challenged casting doubt on its validity as explanation of social change
