*Social Influence Flashcards
What is Social Influence?
Process by which individuals and groups change each other’s attitudes and behaviors.
Includes conformity, obedience, and minority influence.
Define Social Change.
Occurs when societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs, and ways of doing things.
This process involves collective shifts rather than just individual changes.
List the 6 steps of social change.
- Drawing attention
- Consistency
- Deeper processing
- Augmentation principle
- Snowball effect
- Social cryptomnesia
These steps outline how social change can be effectively achieved.
What historical movement exemplifies minority influence leading to social change?
African American Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s.
This movement involved significant efforts to challenge racial segregation.
Describe the first step in how minority influence created social change.
Drawing attention - Marching through the streets (social proof of the problem).
What does the Augmentation Principle refer to in the context of minority influence?
Some individuals risked their lives, e.g., freedom riders rode on buses to challenge the situations, some were beaten.
This principle highlights the importance of sacrifice in gaining attention for a cause.
What is the Snowball Effect in the context of social change?
Black people continued to push for change until it gained government attention and discrimination was prohibited.
This reflects how initial efforts can lead to broader support and eventual legal changes.
What is Social Cryptomnesia?
Knowing the change has occurred but not remembering how.
This concept highlights the lack of awareness of the processes that led to social change.
What key lesson does Asch’s research provide regarding conformity?
Highlighted the importance of dissenters.
Dissenters can break the power of the majority and encourage others to dissent.
What did Milgram’s research demonstrate about obedience?
Importance of disobedient roles; obedience rates plummeted in the presence of dissenters.
Explain the concept of gradual commitment in obedience.
Once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes hard to resist a bigger one.
This is illustrated by a scenario where compliance increases through small requests.
What was the focus of Nolan et al.’s (2008) study?
Investigated if social influence processes led to a reduction in energy consumption.
What was the outcome of Nolan et al.’s study?
Significant reduction in energy consumption.
This demonstrates how normative social behavior can lead to social change.
Identify a limitation of minority influence.
Social change is slow; it can take decades to change attitudes toward issues like drink-driving and smoking.
What does Nemeth (1986) argue about the effects of minority influence?
The effects are indirect and may take time to be seen; they are fragile.
What is a limitation of the methodologies used in studies by Moscovici, Asch, and Milgram?
Flawed methodology raises doubts about the validity of their explanations.
