social influence and social change eval

• limitation of social influence and social change to do with being perceived as deviant

  Being perceived as deviant limits the influence of minorities- seen as deviant in the eyes of society so their potential to influence social change is limited

  Members of the majority may avoid aligning themselves with the minority position bc they don't want to be seen as deviant themselves

  The message of the minority would then have very little impact bc the focus of the majoritys attention would be the source of the message (e.g the Suffragettes or Civil rights activists) than the message itself
• strength of social influence and social change to do with research support for normative influences

  Research support for normative influences- Nolan et al investigated whether social influence processes led to a reduction in energy consumption in a community. They hung messages on the front doors of houses in San Diego, Cali every week for one month.

  The key message was that most residents were trying to reduce energy usage.

  As a control, some residents had a diff message that just asked them to save energy.

  Nolan et al found significant decreases in energy usage in the first group.

  This is a strength bc it shows that conformity can lead to social change through the use of NSI
• counterpoint for normative influences

  Counterpoint: Foxcroft et al reviewed social norms interventions. This review included 70 studies where the social norms approach was used to reduce student alcohol use. The researchers found only a small reduction in drinking quantity and no effect on drinking frequency. Therefore, it seems that using normative influence doesn't always produce long-term social change.
• limitation of social change - barriers to social change

  Barriers to social change- Bashier et al investigated why ppl often resist social change, even when they agree that it is necessary

  For e.g, the researchers found that their participants were less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways bc they didnt want to be associated with stereotypical and minority 'environmentalists'.

  They rated environmental activists and feminists in negative ways, describing them as 'tree huggers' and 'man-haters