Social Change (Social Influence)

Question 1

Social Change

Answer 1

Occurs when whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things.

Question 2

Conditions necessary for social change

Answer 2

-drawing attention to an issue which opposes majority position through social proof (protests, terrorist attacks etc)
-deeper processing of the issue means we examine the minority position more deeply and people who accepted status quo begin to reconsider
-augmentation principle is the idea that people who take risks and are committed are more likely to have their views taken seriously
-snowball effect
-social cryptomnesia

Question 3

Social impact theory- Social force

Answer 3

-Latané 1981 “social force is generated by persuasion, threat, humour and embarrassment”
-Social influence occurs when the combined effects of three factors are significant enough: Strength (power, knowledge, consistency), immediacy (physical, social, or psychological closeness of the person providing influence), Numbers (how many are in the group)

Question 4

Terrorism and social change

Answer 4

Kruglanski 2003- the aim of terrorism is to bring about social change when direct social force is not possible. it is usually carried out by minority groups.
Kruglanski et al. 2007 “fully committed: suicide bombers motivation and quest for personal significance”
devoted, motivated and committed

Question 5

Sparkman and Walton 2017: Dynamic and Static norms

Answer 5

-four experimental studies on meat consumption
-ppts from across the USA read two statements about eating less meat. One statement (static) described how some Americans are currently trying to eat less meat, while the other statement (dynamic) described how some Americans are changing and now eat less meat
the ppts in the dynamic group were more interested in eating less meat

Question 6

McVey and Stapleton 2000

Answer 6

-2997 smokers and 2471 ex smokers were shown either antismoking advertising, were controls or were shown an antismoking campaign and antismoking advertising
-9.8% of smokers stopped and 4.3% of ex smokers relapsed

Question 7

Evidence supporting normative influences

Answer 7

Nolan et al., 2008, investigated wether social influence processes led to a reduction in energy consumption in a community. Found a significant decrease in energy usage in the first group (where signs were hung on doors). Knowing that people were saving energy (NSI) lead to social change.

Question 8

Weaknesses of minority influence

Answer 8

-not all social norms interventions have led to social change- change is slow if at all

Nemeth (1986) influence is indirect and delayed.
-indirect: majority are influenced on matters only related to the issue at hand, and not the central issue itself
-delays: it takes time for change to happen

Drinking campaigns and smoking campaigns have not always been successful in bringing about change

Question 9

Evidence against the role of deeper processing

Answer 9

-different cognitive processes for minority and majority influence (Moscovici)

-Mackie 1987 disagreed and presented evidence that it is majority influence that creates deeper processing, if we do not share their views
-We like to believe other people share our view and think in the same way as us
-if the majority think differently, we are forced to think about their argument and reasoning

Question 10

Barriers to social change

Answer 10

Bashir et al. 2013 study on resistance to social change
-stereotypes of minority groups act as a barrier to social change
-“tree huggers” and “man haters”