social influence processes in social change

Question 1

define social change

Answer 1

occurs when a society or section of society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm.

when individuals band together and form an organisation to focus their collective power, social change can be the result. i.e. the suffragetes.

Question 2

moscovici 1980

Answer 2

conversion is a necessary prerequisite for social change.

Question 3

how does minority influence create social change?

Answer 3

1. drawing attention to an issue
2. cognitive conflict
3. consistency of position
4. augmentation principle
5. snowball effect

Question 4

2 cognitive conflict

Answer 4

the minority creates a conflict between what the majority group members currently believe and the position advocated by the minority.

does not necessarily result in a move towards the minority position, but it does mean that majority group members think more deeply about the issues being challenged.

Question 5

4 the augmentation principle

Answer 5

if a minority appears willing to suffer for their views, they are seen as more committed and so taken more seriously by others.

Question 6

5 the snowball effect

Answer 6

minority influence spreads more widely as more people consider the issues being promoted until it reaches a tipping point, at which it leads to wide-scale social change.

Question 7

social change through majority influence (conformity)

Answer 7

research has consistently demonstrated that behavioural choices are often related to group norms. the social norms approach holds that if people perceive smth to be the norm, they tend to alter their behaviour to fit that norm.

Question 8

social norms intervention

Answer 8

attempt to correct misconceptions of the normative behaviour of peers in an attempt to change the risky behaviour of a target population.

Question 9

how does social norms intervention work

Answer 9

perception correction strategies can be used in media campaigns and promotional material. by advertising these actual norms, researchers hope that recipients will moderate their own behaviour to bring it more in line with the behaviour of their peers.

Question 10

evaluation points

Answer 10

• social change through minority research is very gradual
• being perceived as deviant limits the influence of minorities

Question 11

evaluation weakness

Answer 11

social change through minority research is very gradual

because there is a strong tendency for human beings to conform to the majoriy position, people are more likely to maintain the status quo rather than engage in social change.

suggests that influence of a minority is frequently more latent than direct i.e. creates the potential for change rather than actual social change.

Question 12

evaluation weakness

Answer 12

being perceived as deviant limits the influence of minorities.

members of the majority may avoid aligning themselves w the minority position because they do not want to be seen as deviant themselves. the message of the minority would then have very litle impact because the focus of the majority’ s attention would be the source of the message rather than the messageitself.

they therefore face the double challenge of avoiding being portrayed as deviants and also making people directly embrace their position