Social Infleunces and Social Change

Question 1

what are the 6 steps in minortiy influence creating social change

gonna use african american civil rights movement 50s and 60s to explain each

Answer 1

drawing attention through social proof

consistency

deeper processing

augmentation principle

snowball effect

social cryptomnesia

Question 2

xplan how drawing attention through social proof occured

Answer 2

civil rights marches drew attention to problem of segregation and racism occuring in parts of america

Question 3

how was consistency displayed

Answer 3

millions of people took part in marches over several years always presenting the same non agressive messages

Question 4

how was deeper processing of the issue shown

Answer 4

activism meant people who had just accepted status quo began to think deeply about the unjustness of it

Question 5

explain how the augementation principle was present

Answer 5

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

Question 6

explain the snowball effect

Answer 6

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

Question 7

what is social cryptomnesia

Answer 7

people have memory that changed has occured but dont rember how it happened

Question 8

explain how social cryptomnesia was present

Answer 8

social change clearly did come about as south is a diffrent place

but some people have no memoty of events that led to change

Question 9

what lesson do we learn from conformity research - asch

Answer 9

dissenter broke power of majority enocuraging others to do likewise

and such dissent has potential to ultimatley lead to social change

Question 10

how do environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity processes

Answer 10

by appealing to normative social influence

Question 11

what mehtod +example do health and enviro campaigns use to explout conformity processes

Answer 11

providing info about what other people doing

e,g priniting normative messgaes on litter bins e.g bin it others do it

Question 12

social change can be encouraged by

Answer 12

drawing attention to what majority are actually doing

Question 13

lessons from obedience - what does milgrams research clearly demonstrate

Answer 13

importance of disobedient role models

Question 14

LFOB- in variaiton where teacher refused to give shock describe rate of obediene in genuine pt

Answer 14

plummeted

Question 15

zimbardo suggested how obedience can be used to

Answer 15

create social change throguh process of gradual plummet

Question 16

describe gradual commitment

Answer 16

once small instruction obeyed harder to resist bigger one

people essentially drift into a new kind of behaviour

Question 17

STRENGTH - RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR NORMATIVE INFLUENCES

Answer 17

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

Question 18

counterpoint supporting research

Answer 18

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

Question 19

STRENGTH - MINORITY INFLEUNCE EXPLANS CHANGE

Answer 19

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

Question 20

limitiaiotn in role of deeper processing

Answer 20

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