Social Infleunces and Social Change Flashcards
what are the 6 steps in minortiy influence creating social change
gonna use african american civil rights movement 50s and 60s to explain each
drawing attention through social proof
consistency
deeper processing
augmentation principle
snowball effect
social cryptomnesia
xplan how drawing attention through social proof occured
civil rights marches drew attention to problem of segregation and racism occuring in parts of america
how was consistency displayed
millions of people took part in marches over several years always presenting the same non agressive messages
how was deeper processing of the issue shown
activism meant people who had just accepted status quo began to think deeply about the unjustness of it
explain how the augementation principle was present
indi risked lives numerous times
freedom riders were beatne - boarded buses in south challengin racial segregation of transport
personal risk indicated strong belief anf reinforced their message
explain the snowball effect
activits gradually got attention of US gov
more people backed minority position
1964 US Civil rights act prohibited discirmination
which amrked change from minority to majority support for civil rights
what is social cryptomnesia
people have memory that changed has occured but dont rember how it happened
explain how social cryptomnesia was present
social change clearly did come about as south is a diffrent place
but some people have no memoty of events that led to change
what lesson do we learn from conformity research - asch
dissenter broke power of majority enocuraging others to do likewise
and such dissent has potential to ultimatley lead to social change
how do environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity processes
by appealing to normative social influence
what mehtod +example do health and enviro campaigns use to explout conformity processes
providing info about what other people doing
e,g priniting normative messgaes on litter bins e.g bin it others do it
social change can be encouraged by
drawing attention to what majority are actually doing
lessons from obedience - what does milgrams research clearly demonstrate
importance of disobedient role models
LFOB- in variaiton where teacher refused to give shock describe rate of obediene in genuine pt
plummeted
zimbardo suggested how obedience can be used to
create social change throguh process of gradual plummet
describe gradual commitment
once small instruction obeyed harder to resist bigger one
people essentially drift into a new kind of behaviour
STRENGTH - RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR NORMATIVE INFLUENCES
Research ahs shown social infleunce processes based on psychological research do work
researchers aimed to see if they could alter people energy use habits
researchers hing messages on front doors of hosues in california every week for a month
key message was most residents trying to reduce theor energy usage
as ctrl some residents had diff message simply asking them to save energy with no reference ot otehr peoples behaviours
signficant decreases in energy uses in first group compared to second
showing confomrity is can lead to social change through op of normative influence so its a valid explanation
counterpoint supporting research
studies show people behaviour not always changed through exposing them to social norms
psychologist reviewed social norm interventions as aprt of the gold standard cochrane collab
review included 70 studies where social norms approach used to reduce studnet alchohol use
researchers found only a small reduction in drinkingqunatitiy and no effect on frequency
therfore seems using NSI dont always produce LT social change
STRENGTH - MINORITY INFLEUNCE EXPLANS CHANGE
psych can expplain how minority influence brings about sciak change
nemeth claimed social change due to type of thinking minorities inspire
when people consider minoroty arg they engage in divergent thinking , its broader the thinker activley searches for information and weighs up more options
nemnth argues this leads to better descisions and more creative solutions to social issues
this shows why dissenting minoriteis are valuable as they stim new ideas and open minds in ways majority cannot
limitiaiotn in role of deeper processing
deeper processing may not play role in how minorities bring about social change
some people supposedly converted becasue they think more deeply about minoritys views
mackie disagreed and presents evidence that it is majority infleunce that may create deeper processsing if you dont shar their views
as we like to beleive that other people share our views and think in same way as us
when we find majority beleive suttin diff were forced to think long and ahrd about their reasonsing and arg
meaning cntral element of minrotuy infleucen has been challenged casting doubt on it svalidity as ane xpl of social change
