social influence - 1.6 Flashcards
The role of social influence processes in social change.
social change
refers to the ways in which a society (rather than an individual) develops over time to replace beliefs, attitudes and behaviour with new norms and expectations
how does social change occur?
as a result of minority influence but also as a result of obedience and conformity which both can explain large scale social change
6 steps of social change
- create attention
- cognitive conflict
- consistency
- the augmentation principle
- the snowball effect
- social cryptomnesia
describe the step of “creating attention”
the view of opposition to the current ideology needs to be expressed otherwise the majority will not recognise it
the majority will seek to reduce this opposition and therefore, the minority group needs to create attention
describe the step of “cognitive conflict”
minority shows the conflict between majority and minority creating social competition
they show the have a different stance to the majority making others think about the differences
describe the step of “consistency”
most important factor to making a group successful and influential
this will mean that they are taken more seriously as this is over a period of time
describe the step of “the augmentation principle”
when there are risks involved, the minorities views are taken more seriously
these risks are difficult circumstances where there may be repercussions for speaking out e.g. imprisonment or abuse
the minority are willing to make sacrifices for their cause therefore augmenting their point
describe the step of “the snowball effect”
how social change happens
ss one person defects from the majority to the join the minority, others will follow
this means that the minority group gather momentum and therefore, more people join the minority
as more move across, it decreases the pressure for others to conform to the majority
describe the step of “social cryptomnesia”
people remember that change has occurred however, they have no memory as to why or how it happened
strengths of social change
creating attention is shown through the Rosenstrausse protest as they created attention for their cause against Nazi Germany
consistency is supported by Moscovici who shows a consistent minority is more influential than an inconsistent minority (8.4 > 1.3)
the augmentation principle is supported by Kruglanski (2003) who states that terrorism is one of the greatest cases showing how social change is intended through minority influence as a minority is willing to go to extreme lengths for their beliefs
research to support the snowball effect comes from Asch’s breaking unanimity study as it shows that it people go against the majority; other people are more likely to go against the majority
limitations of social change?
the boomerang effect may cause some people to change to the minority but in fact, those who stay with the majority become more driven to go against the minority group
we have to question at what point does the minority become a majority and the influence change? once they become the majority has social change occurred or is there more to the process?
