social change

• What is the augmentation principle?

  Strong actions (risking your life) indicate strong internal motivation (commitment)
• What is the Snowball Effect in minority influence?

  • Starts slow with few conversions
  • Exponential growth as more convert
  • Minority can become majority quickly
• How does social change relate to minority influence?

  • Minority groups challenge majority views
  • Leads to societal attitude changes
  • Requires consistency, commitment, and flexibility
• What is social cryptoamnesia?

  Forgetting the source of new ideas
• What happens to extreme actions taken by minority groups over time?

  They can become mainstream and accepted (social change)
• How can understanding minority influence lead to practical applications?

  Encouraging positive social change
• steps involved in social change:

  1. drawing attention
  2. consistency
  3. deeper processing
  4. augmentation principle
  5. snowball effect
  6. social crypto amnesia
• Nolan et al - investigated changes in energy habits - Hung messages on doors in California every week for 1 month to say that most residents were reducing energy usage. there were significant decreases in energy usage - shows normative social influence can lead to social change
• social change can come about via conformity - NSI - information may be given to people about what others are doing, drawing attention to what the majority are doing to encourage others to follow along because they want to fit in with everyone else
• social change be can also come about via obedience- governments (minority groups) can bring about social change through obedience and gradual commitment. once people obey one small order, it becomes difficult to resist bigger ones so people 'drift' to new behaviours
• bashir et al - participants less likely to show environmentally friendly behaviours because they didn't want to be stereotyped as environmentalists as they perceived these people negatively - shows social change can only occur if people view the minority group positively
• social change refers to the changes that occur within a whole society as opposed to on an individual level
• evidence of minority groups bringing about social change in the real world - suffragettes movement 1903-1918 - showed their commitment through personal sacrifice, symbolising their internal motivations (augmentation principle) - eventually they were listened to and women were granted the right to vote - showing how minority groups can bring about social change