Social Change Flashcards
What is minority influence?
Form of social influence in which a minority persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours, leading to internalisation
Which three processes are involved in minority influence?
Consistency, commitment and flexibility
How does consistency work in minority influence?
When the same message is repeated; consistency in views increases interest over time which may lead to people rethinking their own views
Define the two types of consistency
Synchronic consistency = consistency between people in the minority (all are saying the same thing)
Diachronic consistency = consistency over time
Describe the procedure of the study into consistency in minority influence
Moscovici et al (1969)
- Ppts were first tested to ensure they were not colour blind; then put in groups of 6 (4 ppts, 2 confederates)
- Asked to state colour of 36 blue slides
- In Condition A, confederates were consistent and called slides green in all trials
- Condition B, confederates were inconsistent; only called slides green 24/36 times
What were the findings of the study ont consistency in minority influence?
Control group - only 0.25% of participants reported green slides
Consistent - participants answered green 8.42% of trials, 32% at least once
Inconsistent - participants answered green in 1.25% of trials
What is commitment and how does it aid in minority influence?
When minorities engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views/cause
- important as it demonstrates commitment to their cause ; increases amount of interest from majority
What is flexibility and how does it aid in minority influence?
When minorities appear flexible and compromising in their views ; likely to be seen as less extreme and more reasonable & cooperative
- important to balance consistency and flexibility
Define social change
When society adopts a new way of behaving which becomes widely accepted as the norm
What are the stages in social change via minority influence?
Drawing attention, consistency, deeper processing, augmentation principle, snowball effect, social cryptomnesia
Define augmentation principle
When individuals risk their lives; shows they aren’t doing something out of their own interest
Define snowball effect
When a small action results in a huge change; the more people who ‘convert’, the faster the rate of conversion
Define social cryptomnesia
When people have a memory of a change occuring but not remember how it happened
How can social change be applied to Asch’s study?
- ## highlights the importance of dissenter; breaks the power of the majority and encouraged others to dissent
How can social change be applied to Milgram’s research?
Demonstrates importance of disobedient role models; when another disobedient confederate was added obedience plummeted
What is gradual commitment?
When after a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes more difficult to resist a bigger one so people ‘drift’ into a new kind of behaviour
What is a strength of explanations for social change?
Research support - Nolan et al (2008) —> hung messages on the doors of homes in California every week for a month; those stating most of their neighbours were reducing energy usage had a greater change than those simply saying to save energy
- supports the idea that conformity can lead to social change through NSI
Give limitations for explanations of social change
-Indirect effective of minority influence —> Nemeth argued that minorités have little influence as social change is rare + slow; suggested minority influence effect is delayed and indirect
- shows minorities may have little influence so explanation is limited
Deeper processing - some argue that majority influence (conformity) has a greater role in deeper processing as we want to think others share our views, so if majority thinks differently we think more deeply about their arguements
- limits the explanation bc a central step in the process of social change is questioned, lowering validity
