Social Change

Question 1

Describe social change

Answer 1

• Social change is when a society adopts a new way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the ‘norm’
• It’s the process of bringing about significant societal changes, which usually results in a conflict with those in authority
• A group of people will collectively try and fight for their cause
• Starts out with a small group or a minority, trying to win over the rest of society

Question 2

Describe drawing attention as a process of minority influence

Answer 2

• Minority draws attention of the majority to an issue
• e.g. protests, marches, bus boycotts in the civil rights movement to combat racism. Suffragettes using militant tactics to expose women’s lack of rights

Question 3

Describe consistency as a process of minority influence

Answer 3

Minority influence is most effective when the minority keeps the same beliefs over time (diachronic) and between all individuals (synchronic)

Question 4

Describe deeper processing as a process of minority influence

Answer 4

Conflict between the majority’s belief and those introduced by the minority. Leads to deeper thinking about the issue. People who had previously accepted the status quo started to question and think more deeply about the issue

Question 5

Describe the augmentation principle as a process of minority influence

Answer 5

If a person performs an action where there are known risks, this indicates a strong belief and reinforces their message

Question 6

Describe the snowball effect as a process of minority influence

Answer 6

Initially only a small number of people support an idea, then gradually more become supportive and back the minority

Question 7

Describe social cryptomesia as a process of minority influence

Answer 7

When social change occurs, the new attitude becomes an integral part of the society culture, and the source and actions of minority influence that led to it is forgotten

Question 8

Describe social change through majority influence (social norms interventions)

Answer 8

• Social norm interventions start by identifying a widespread misperception relating to a risky behaviour within a target population
• e.g. young adults misperceive the frequency and quantity typically consumed by peers, and the develop norms that justify their heavy drinking behaviour
• The aim of these strategies is to communicate to the target population the actual norms, researchers hope that recipients will. moderate their behaviour to be in line with their peers

Question 9

Give evaluation for social change (research support)

Answer 9

• Research has shown that social influence processes based on psychological research do work
• Nolan et al (2008) aimed to see if they could change people’s energy-use habits. They hung messages on the front of houses in San Diego, California every week for a month. The key message was that most residents were trying to reduce their energy usage. As a control, some residents had a different message that just asked them to save energy but made no reference to other people’s behaviour. There were significant decreases in energy usage in the first group compared to the 2nd.
• Shows that conformity (majority influence) can lead to social change through operation of normative social influence so it’s a valid exception.
• However some studies show that people’s behaviour isn’t always changed through exposing them to social norms . Foxcroft et al (2015) reviewed social norms interventions as part of the ‘gold standard’ Cochrane Collaboration. This review included 70 studies where the social norms approach was used to reduce student alcohol use. The researchers found only a small reduction in drinking quantity and no effect on drinking frequency
• Therefore it seems that using normative influence doesn’t always produce long-term social change

Question 10

Give evaluation for social change (minority influence brings change)

Answer 10

• Psychologists can explain how minority influence brings about social change
• Nemeth (2009) claims social change is due to the type thinking that minorities inspire. When people consider minority arguments, they engage on divergent thinking. This type of thinking is broad rather than narrow, in which the thinker actively searches for information and weighs up more options. Nemeth argues this leads to better decisions and more creative solutions to social issues.
• Shows why dissenting minorities are valuable, they stimulate new ideas and open minds in a way that majorities cannot

Question 11

Give evaluation for social change (deeper processing)

Answer 11

• Deeper processing may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change
• Some people are supposedly converted as they think more deeply about the minority’s views.
• Mackie (1987) disagrees and presents evidence that it’s majority influence that may create deeper processing if you don’t share their views. This is because we like to believe that other people share our views and think in the same way as us. When we find that a majority thinks differently, then we are forced to think long and hard about their arguments and reasoning
• This means that a central element of minority influence has been challenged, casting doubt on its validity as an explanation of social change