Social influence and social change

• AO1 - drawing attention

  • In the 1950s places such as schools and restaurants in the southern states were exclusive to whites.
  • The civil rights marches drew attention to this situation by providing social proof of the problem.
• AO1 - consistency

  • People took part in marches on a large scale.
  • Even though it was a minority of the American population, they displayed consistency of message and intent.
• AO1 - deeper processing

  This activism meant that people who had simply accepted the status began to think deeply about the unjustness of it.
• AO1 - augmentation principle

  • ‘Freedom riders’ were both white and black people who boarded buses in the southern states to challenge separate seating for black people.
  • Many were beaten.
  • The personal risk strengthened their message.
• AO1 - snowball effect

  • Activist gradually got the attention of the US government.
  • In 1964, the civil rights act was passed.
  • Change happens bit by bit just as a rolling snowball grows as it gathers more snow.
• AO1 - social cryptomnesia

  Social change came about, but some people have no memory of the events leading to that change.
• AO1 - dissenters

  • In one of Asch’s variations, we saw that a dissenter broke the power of the majority, encouraging others to dissent.
  • This demonstrates potential for social change.
• AO1 - NSI

  • Environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity by appealing to NSI.
  • They provide information about what others are doing.
  • Social change is encouraged by drawing attention to what the majority are actually doing.
• AO1 - disobedient models

  In one of Milgram’s variations, we saw that disobedient models that refused to give shocks made the rate of obedience in genuine participants decrease.
• AO1 - Zimbardo

  Zimbardo suggested how obedience can be used to create social change to a process of gradual commitment.
• AO3 - ✔️support for normative influence in social change


  • Researchers hung messages on front doors of houses every week for 1 month.
  • The key message was that most residents were trying to reduce energy usage.
  • As a control group, some residents just asked them to save energy but made no reference to others behaviour.
  • There was significant decreases in energy usage in the first group compared to the control group.
  • Shows conformity can lead to social changes through the operation of NSI.
• AO3 - counterpoint; support for normative influence in social change

  • However, exposing people to social norms doesn’t always change their behaviour.
  • Researchers reviewed 70 studies of programmes using social norms to reduce alcohol intake
  • There was only a small effect on drinking quantity and no effect on drinking frequency.
  • Shows that NSI doesn’t always produce long-term social change.
• AO3 - ✔️minority influence explains social change


  • Nemeth claims social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire.
  • It causes people to engage in divergent thinking.
  • This thinking leads to better decisions and creative solutions to social problems.
  • Shows that minorities are valuable as they stimulate new ideas and open people’s minds.
• AO3 - ✖️deep processing may apply to majority influence 


  • A researcher disagrees with the view that minority causes individuals in the majority to think deeply about an issue.
  • Majority influence creates deeper processing as we believe others think as we do.
  • When a majority thinks differently, this creates pressure to think about their views.
  • Means that a central element of minority influence has been challenged, casting doubt of its validity as an explanation of social change.