Social influence and social change

Question 1

how minority influence creates social change

Answer 1

• drawing attention- minority must draw attention to the issue through social proof
• consistency- minority must express their views consistency
• deeper processing- minority must inspire people to seriously consider their views
• augmentation principle- minority must appear willing to suffer for their cause
• snowball effect- minority must spread their message widely to as many people as they can
• social cryptomnesia- the minority’s view becomes the norm and the majority cannot remember a time before the change

Question 2

lessons from conformity research

Answer 2

normative social influence can lead to social change by drawing attention to what majority is doing

Question 3

lessons from obedience research

Answer 3

importance of disobedient role models, gradual commitment is now obedience can lead to change

Question 4

research support for normative influences

Answer 4

Nolan (2008)- Investigated whether social influence processes led to a reduction in energy consumption in the community, hung messages on doors saying most residents were trying to reduce their energy consumption, found significant decreases in energy consumption, shows conformity can lead to social change through NSI

Question 5

minority influence is only indirectly effective

Answer 5

social changes happen slowly, effects of minority influence are limited because they are indirect and appear later (Nemeth)

Question 6

Role of deeper processing

Answer 6

Mackie (1987)- it is majority views that are processed more deeply than minority views, challenges central feature of minority influence

Question 7

extra evaluation

Answer 7

barriers to social change

methodological issues