social influence and social change

Question 1

AO1: what is social influence

Answer 1

individuals & groups change each others attitudes and behaviours

Question 2

AO1: social change steps for minority influence

Answer 2

1) draw attention to social change
2) consistency of position
3) deeper processing of the issue
4) argumentation principle- if risk involved they are taken more seriously
5) snowball effect- over time minority influence more and more people
6) social cryptomnesia occurs

Question 3

AO1: what does conformity and obedience research teach us about social change?

Answer 3

conformity research- dissenters make social change more likely. Asch’s research demonstrated that when one confederate always
gave the correct answer, this broke the power of the majority

obedience research- disobedient models make social change more likely. Milgram’s research showed when one confederate refused to give shocks, the rate of obedience in genuine participants dropped significantly.

Question 4

AO3: strength- research support

Answer 4

P: research support shows that social influence processes based on psychological research do work
E: Nolan’s aim was to see if she could change peoples energy use habits
E: hung messages on the front doors of houses in California every week for a month. Message was that most residents were trying to reduce their waste. As a control, some had a message that just asked them to reduce their waste. Significant decrease in energy usage in the first group compared to the second group L: conformity can lead to social change through the operation of normative influence
HOWEVER,
some studies show that peoples behaviour is not always changed through exposing the to social norms. Researcher reviews 70 studies where the social norm approach was used to reduce student alcohol use. Found only a small reduction in drinking quantity and no effect on drinking frequency. Using normative influence doesn’t always produce long term social change.

Question 5

AO3: strength- psychologists can explain how minority influence bring about social change

Answer 5

P: explain how minority influence brings about social change
E: Nemeth claims social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire. When people consider minority arguments they engage in divergent thinking.
E: this type of thinking is broad, and the thinker actively searches for information. Argues that this leads to better discussions and creative solutions to social issues.
L: shows why dissenting minorities are valuable

Question 6

AO3: limitation- deeper processing may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change.

Answer 6

P: deeper processing many not play a role in how minorities bring about social change.
E: evidence shows that it might be majority influence that creates deeper processing if you do not share their views.
E: this is because we like to believe that other people share our views an think in the same way as us. When we find that a majority disagree with us, then we are forced to think long and hard about their argument and reasoning.
L: this means that a central element of minority influence has been challenged, calling doubt on its validity as an explanation of social change.