Social influence & Social change Flashcards
Define social change
Occurs when a society or section of society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepting as the norm
Define social influence
Process by which individuals & groups change each others attitudes & behaviours
Includes: conformity,obedience & minority influence
What are the three areas of social influence that relate to social change?
Minority influence
Majority influence (normative social messaging)
Obedience to authority
What are the conditions necessary for social change to occur?
- Drawing attention
- Role of conflict
- Consistency
- Augmentation Principle
- Snowball effect
- Social crypptomnesia
How does drawing attention help create social change?
Draws attention to the issue, which opposes the majority position
How does role of conflict create social change?
Means we examine the minority position more deeply leading to cognitive dissonance- our thoughts make us feel uncomfortable because we are challenged
How does consistency help create social change?
When minorities express their arguments consistently (with each other & over time) they are taken more seriously
Wood et al carried out a meta analysis of 97 studies showing that consistent minorities were particularly influential
How does the argumentation principle create social change?
Argumentation principle- if there are risks associated with putting forward the point of view, then the views are taken more seriously
How does the snowball effect create social change?
Snowball effect- when the group continues to grow in numbers it becomes the majority, (where then obedience & conformity come into play.
How does social cryptomnesia create social change?
When the majoirty forget that they are influenced by the minortiy & the minority become mainstream
How did the suffragettes use the conditions to create social change?
Drawing attention
Used educational, political, militant methods
Role of conflict
They advocated changes to the voting system which created cognitive conflict
Consistency
Continued for 15 years
Augmentation principle
Hunger strike, imprisonment
Snowball effect
More people (men and women from other classes) began to support their ideas
Social Cryptoamnesia
Over time people forgot that it was the actions and beliefs of a minority that led to the current situation of women having the vote
How do dissenters make social change more likely?
Asch’s research demonstrated that when one confederate gave the wrong answer it broke the power of the majority & allowed others to dissent
Demonstrating the potential for social change
What is the other approach that makes social change more likely?
Environmental & health campaigners exploit conformity processes by appealing to normative social influence
They do this by providing information about what other people are doing e.g. ‘9/10 highschool students do not smoke’
What was the study carried out for normative social messaging?
Study was carried out by Schultz et al (2008)
Field exp- Two conditions:
On back of each towel reuse sign & information about the benefits of participating in program was provded with following texts:
Control condition:
“Many of our guests have expressed to us their approval of conserving energy. Because so many guests value conservation and are in the habit of conserving energy, this hotel has adopted a conservation program.”
Experimental Condition:
Nearly 75% of our guests reuse their towels each day. To support our guests who want to conserve, this hotel has adopted a conservation program”
What were the findings of Schultz study?
Found that people who received a message suggesting that the majority (exp condition) of hotel guests reused their towels were more likely to also do this than people who received a message about the importance of considering the environment.
