social influence and social change

Question 1

social influence definition

Answer 1

the process by which individuals and groups change each other’s attitudes and behaviours. includes conformity, obedience and minority influence

Question 2

social change definition

Answer 2

occurs when whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things. examples includes accepting earth orbits the sun, woman’s suffrage and environmental issues

Question 3

how does minority influence happen

Answer 3

1- drawing attention (thorough social proof)
2- consistency
3-deeper processing (of the issue)
4- augmentation principle
5- snowball effect
6- social cryptomnesia

Question 4

example of American civil rights movement in 1950s and 60s in minority social influence causing social change - 1 drawing attention

Answer 4

1-drawing attention -in 1950s black and white segregation applied to all parts of America. there were black neighbourhoods and in southern states places such as certain schools and restaurants exclusive to whites. civil marches drew attention to the situation, providing social proof of the problem

Question 5

example of American civil rights movement in 1950s and 60s in minority social influence causing social change - 2 consistency

Answer 5

civil rights activists represented a minority of the American population, but their position remained consistent. millions took part in many marches over several years, always presenting same non-aggressive messages

Question 6

example of American civil rights movement in 1950s and 60s in minority social influence causing social change - 3 deeper processing, of the issue

Answer 6

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

Question 7

example of American civil rights movement in 1950s and 60s in minority social influence causing social change - 4 the augmentation principle

Answer 7

individuals risked their lives lives numerous times. for example, freedom riders were mixed ethnic groups who boarded buses in the south, challenging racial segregation of transport. many freedom riders were beaten. this personal risk indicated a strong belief and reinforces (or arguments) their message

Question 8

example of American civil rights movement in 1950s and 60s in minority social influence causing social change - 5 the snowball effect

Answer 8

activists such as Martin Luther King gradually got the attention of the US government. more and more people backed the minority position. in 1964 the US civil rights act prohibited discrimination, marking a change from minority to majority support for civil rights

Question 9

what is social cryptomnesia

Answer 9

people have a memory change occurred by cannot remember how it happened

Question 10

example of American civil rights movement in 1950s and 60s in minority social influence causing social change - 6 social cryptomnesia

Answer 10

social change clearly did come about so the south is quite a different place now. but some people have no memory of the events that lead to that change

Question 11

lessons form conformity research - Asch

Answer 11

Asch highlighted the importance of dissent in one of his variations in which one confederate gave correct answers through the procedure. this broke power of the majority, encouraging others to do likewise. such dissent has the potential to ultimately lead to social change

Question 12

lessons form conformity research - environmental/health campaigns (NSI)

Answer 12

-environmental and health campaigns which exploit conformity processes by appealing to normative social influence. they do this by providing information about what other people are doing. examples include reducing litter by printing normative messages on litter bins (bin it- others do), and preventing young people form smoking (telling them most other young people do not smoke). social change is encouraged by drawing attention to what majority are actually doing

Question 13

lessons form obedience research - Milgram

Answer 13

Milgram’s research clearly demonstrates the importance of disobedient role models. in the variation where a confederate teacher refuses to shock learner, rate of obedience of genuine participant significantly decreased

Question 14

lessons from obedience research - Zimbardo 2007

Answer 14

Zimbardo 2007 suggested how obedience can be used to create social change through process of gradual commitment. once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes much more difficult to resist a bigger one , people essentially drift into a new kind of behaviour

Question 15

strength of social influence and social change - research support for normative influences

Answer 15

• research has shown that social influence processes based in psychological research do work
  -Nolan et al 2008 aimed to see if they could change people’s energy use habits. the researchers hung messages on the front doors of houses in San Diego, California every week for a month. the key message was that most residents were trying to reduce energy usage. as a control, some residents had a different message that just asked them to save energy but had no reference to others behaviour. they were significant decreased in energy usage in first group compared to second –> shows that conformity (majority influence) can lead to social change through operation of normative social influence, it is a valid explanation

Question 16

limitation of social influence and social change - counterpoint to research support for normative influences

Answer 16

-some studies show that people’s behaviour is not always changed through exposing them to social norms. Foxcroft et al 2015 reviewed social norms interventions as part of the gold standard cochrane collaboration. this review concluded 70 studies where the social norms approach was used to reduce student alcohol use. the researchers found only a small reduction in drinking quantity and no effect on drinking frequency –> seems using normative social influence does not always produce long-term social change

Question 17

strength of social influence and social change - minority influence explains social change

Answer 17

-psychologists can explain how minority influence brings about social change
-Nemeth 2009 claims social change is due to the type of thinking minorities inspire. when people consider minority arguments, they engage in divergent thinking. this type of thinking is broad rather than narrow, in which the thinker actively searches for information and weighs up more options. Nemeth argues this leads to better decisions and more creative solutions to social issues –> shows why dissenting minorities are valuable - they can stimulate new ideas and open minds in a way majorities cannot

Question 18

limitation of social influence and social change - role of deeper processing

Answer 18

-deeper processing may not play a role in how minorities
bring about social change
-some people are supposedly converted because they think more deeply about the minority’s views. Mackie 1987 disagrees and presents evidence that is is majority influence that may create deeper processing if you do not share their views. this is because we like to believe that other people share our views and think in the same way as us. when we find that a majority believes something different, then we are forced to think long and hard about their arguments and reasoning –> means that a central element of minority influence had been challenged, casting doubt of its validity as an explanation of social change

Question 19

evaluation of social influence and social change - barriers to spread social change

Answer 19

• the research provides a lot of practical advice useful to a minority wanting to influence majority opinion or behaviour (eg importance of consistency)
  -However, according to Bashir et al 2013 , the fact is that people still resist social change. for example, Bashir et found that their participants were less likely to behave in an environmentally-friendly ways because they did not want to be associated with the stereotypical and minority environmentalists. they described environmental activists in negative ways. despite this resistance, the researchers were still able to suggests ways in which minorities can overcome barriers to social change