Social influence and social change Flashcards
what is social change
this occurs when societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things
what are the steps of how social influence creates social change
- drawing attention
- consistency
- deeper processing
- the augmentation principle
- the snowball effect
- social cryptomnesia
what is drawing attention
drawing attention to a flaw in society and providing social proof of the problem
e.g., civil rights marches to draw attention to black and white segregation in the 1950s
what is consistency
the minority remaining consistent about their cause
e.g., civil rights activists always presented non-aggressive messages
what is deeper processing
making the majority think deeper
e.g., the activism meant that many people who had simply accepted the status quo began to think deeply about the unjustness of it
what is the augmentation principle
taking high risks to indicate a strong belief to augment their message
e.g., ‘freedom riders’ boarding buses and challenging segregating of transport
what is the snowball effect
the small minority will gradually reach the attention of important majority
e.g., martin luther king got the attention of the US government and legalised the prohibition of discrimination
what is social cryptomensia
people have a memory that change has occurred but don’t remember how it happened
what does conformity research teach about social change
in asch’s research, when one confederate gave correct answers the power of the majority was broken and encouraged others to do likewise
such dissent has the potential to lead to social change
environmental and health campaigns appeal to normative social influence, e.g., messages used to reduce litter such as ‘bin it, others do’
what does obedience research teach about social change
in one of milgram’s variations, a confederate teacher refuses to give shocks to the learner and the rate of obedience in the genuine ppts plummets
zimbardo suggests obedience creates social change through gradual commitment, people ‘drift’ into a new kind of behaviour
what is the supporting research for normative influences (strength)
nolan et al. hung messages on front doors stating residents were trying to reduce energy usage
for control, some residents had different messages asking them to save energy
there were significant decreases in energy usage in the first group compared to the second
this shows that conformity can lead to social change through the operation of normative social influence, it is valid
what is a counterpoint for the research support (limitation)
foxcroft et al. (2015) reviewed social norms interventions, including 70 studies where the social norms approach was used to reduce student alcohol use
researchers found only a small reduction in drinking quantity and no effect on frequency
therefore NSI does not always produce long-term social change
how does minority influence explain change (strength)
nemeth (2009) claims social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire
when considering the minority, people engage in divergent thinking, which is broad rather than narrow, and weighs up more options
this leads to better decisions and more creative solutions to social issues
this shows why dissenting minorities are valuable
why might deeper processing not play a role in social change (limitation)
mackie (1987) believes that it is majority influence that may create deeper processing if you do not share the views of the minority
this is because we like to believe that other people share our views and think in the same way as us, when we find a majority believes something different, we are forced to think long about their arguments
this means that a central element of minority influence has been challenged, casting doubt on the validity
