Social influence and social change Flashcards
social influence
definition
the process by which individuals and groups change each other’s attitudes and behaviours
social influence
parts
conformity
obedience
minority influence
social change
definition
this occurs when whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes beliefs and ways of doing things
social change
examples
gay rights, environmental issues, woman’s suffrage
Minority influence stages
1) Drawing attention through social proof
2) Consistency
3) Deeper processing if the issue
4) Augmentation principle
5) Snowball effect
6) Social cryptomnesia
└people have memory that change has occurred but don’t remember how it happened
Social influence and social change
Lessons from conformity research
└Asch’s research
└highlighted the importance of dissent in one of his variations- one confederate gave correct answers throughout the procedure
└broke the power of majority and encouraged others to dissent
└could lead to social change
└environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity processes by appealing to normative social influence
└provide information about what other people are doing- e.g. in litter bins/ smoking leaflets
└social change is encouraged by drawing attention to what the majority are actually doing
Social influence and social change
Lessons from obedience research
└Milgrams research
└clearly demonstrates the importance of disobedient role models
└in variation wherw confederate teacher refuses to shock the learner, obedience rates of genuine participants fell dramatically
└Zimbardo (2007)
└suggested obedience can be used to create social change through gradual commitment
└once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes more difficult to resist a bigger one
Social influence and social change
Strengths
Research support for normative influences
└Nolan et al (2008)
└investigated whether social influence processes led to a reduction of energy consumption in a community
└they hung messages of doors in San Diego California every week for one month (to reduce energy usage like most other residents)
└control: message that just asked them to save energy with no reference to others behaviour
└found significant decrease in energy usage of first group
└shows conformity can lead to social change through operation of NSI
Social influence and social change
Limitations
Summary
Minority influence only indirectly effective- Charlan Nemeth (1986)
Role of deeper processing - Diane Mackie (1987)
Methodological issues - Moscovici, Asch and Milgram
Social influence and social change
Limitations
Minority influence only indirectly effective
└social changes happen slowly
└e.g. taken decade for attitudes against drunk driving and smoking to shift
└Charlan Nemeth (1986)
└the effect of minority influence is indirect and delayed
└indirect: majority is influenced on matters only related to the issue at hand, not the central issue itself
└delayed: the effects may not be seen for some time
└fragile effects and limited role on social influence
Social influence and social change
Limitations
Role of deeper processing
└Moscovicis conversion explanation of minority influence argues that minority and majority influence involve different cognitive processes
└minority influence causes individuals to think more deaply about an issue than majority influence (conformity)
└Diane Mackie (1987)
└disagrees and says that majority influence creates deeper processing if you don’t share their views
└as we like to believe others share our same views so when they don’t we are forced to think long and hard about their arguments and reasoning
└reduces validity
Social influence and social change
Limitations
Methodological issues
└explanations on how social influence leads to social change draws heavily upon studies of Moscovici, Asch and Milgram
└methodological issues reduce validity
