Social Change

• Social influence is the process by which individuals and groups change each other's attitudes and behaviours. Includes conformity, obedience and minority influence.
• Social change occurs when whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things. Examples include women's suffrage, gay rights and environmental issues.
• A real-world example of how minority social influence created social change is the African-American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
• 𝙃𝙊𝙒 𝙎𝙊𝘾𝙄𝘼𝙇 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙀 𝙊𝘾𝘾𝙐𝙍𝙎:

  𝟭. 𝗗rawing attention

  𝟮. 𝗖onsistency

  𝟯. 𝗗eeper processing

  𝟰. 𝗔ugmentation principle

  𝟱. 𝗦nowball effect

  𝟲. 𝗦ocial cryptoamnesia
• 𝟭. 𝘿𝙍𝘼𝙒𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘼𝙏𝙏𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉:

  (through social proof)

  In the 1950s, black-and-white segregation applied to all parts of America, where some schools and restaurants were exclusive to whites. The civil rights marches drew attention to this situation, providing social proof of the problem.
• 𝟮. 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙎𝙄𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙉𝘾𝙔:

  Civil rights activists represented a minority of the American population, but their position remained consistent. Millions of people took part in many marches over several years, always presenting the same non-aggressive messages.
• 𝟯. 𝘿𝙀𝙀𝙋𝙀𝙍 𝙋𝙍𝙊𝘾𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙄𝙉𝙂:

  (of the issue)

  The activism meant that many people who had simply accepted the status quo began to think deeply about the unjustness of it.
• 𝟰. 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘼𝙐𝙂𝙈𝙀𝙉𝙏𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 𝙋𝙍𝙄𝙉𝘾𝙄𝙋𝙇𝙀:

  Individuals risked their lives numerous times. For example, the 'freedom riders' were mixed ethnic groups who boarded buses in the south, challenging racial segregation of transport. Many freedom riders were beaten. This personal risk indicates a strong belief and reinforces (augments) their message.
• 𝟱. 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙉𝙊𝙒𝘽𝘼𝙇𝙇 𝙀𝙁𝙁𝙀𝘾𝙏:

  Activists such as Martin Luther King gradually got the attention of the US government. More and more people backed the minority position. In 1964 the US Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination, making a change from minority to majority support for civil rights.
• 𝟲. 𝙎𝙊𝘾𝙄𝘼𝙇 𝘾𝙍𝙔𝙋𝙏𝙊𝘼𝙈𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙄𝘼:

  (people have a memory that change has occurred but don't remember how it happened)

  Social change clearly did come about so the south is quite a different place now. But some people have no memory (cryptoamnesia) of the events that led to that change.
• 𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙊𝙉𝙎 𝙁𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙈𝙄𝙏𝙔 𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙍𝘾𝙃:

  Asch highlighted the importance of dissent in one of his variations in which one confederate gave correct answers throughout the procedure. This broke the power of the majority, encouraging others to do likewise (potential to ultimately lead to social change).

  A different approach, usually used by environmental and health campaigns, exploits conformity processes by appealing to NSI by providing information about what other people are doing. Social change is encouraged by drawing attention to what the majority is doing.
• 𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙊𝙉𝙎 𝙁𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝙊𝘽𝙀𝘿𝙄𝙀𝙉𝘾𝙀 𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙍𝘾𝙃:

  Milgram's research clearly demonstrates the importance of disobedient role models. In the variation where a confederate Teacher refused to give shocks to the Learner, the rate of obedience in the genuine participant plummeted from 65% to 10%.

  Zimbardo (2007) suggested how obedience could be used to create social change through the process of gradual commitment. Once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes much more difficult to resist a bigger one ('drifting' into new behaviour).
• 𝟭. 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗡𝗦𝗜:

  One strength is that research has shown that social influence processes based on psychological research do work.

  Nolan et al. aimed to see if they could change people's energy use habits by hanging signs on front doors every week for one month. The key message was that most residents were trying to reduce their energy usage (control was signs with no reference to other people's behaviour). There were significant decreases in energy usage in the first group.

  Shows that conformity can lead to social change through NSI = valid explanation.
• (𝗟)

  𝟮. 𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘:

  Bashir et al. found that people often fail to behave in environmentally friendly ways because they have negative stereotypes of ‘environmentalists’ (e.g. ‘tree huggers') and do not want to be associated with such groups.

  Despite this, the researchers showed it is still possible for minorities to overcome resistance to social change (e.g. by being flexible enough to adapt).

  This shows that minority influence research can provide practical steps for minorities to promote social change, even when conditions are challenging.
• (𝗦)

  𝟯. 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗟𝗨𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘:

  Charles Nemeth showed that social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire.

  When people consider minority arguments, they engage in divergent thinking - broad thinking in which the thinker actively searches for more information.

  Nemeth argues this leads to better decisions and more creative solutions to social issues.

  This shows why dissenting minorities are valuable; they stimulate new ideas and open minds in a way that majorities cannot.
• Normative social influence -> Social change comes about because we want to be part of the majority and not left behind.
• Gradual commitment -> Social change occurs when people are told to change their behaviour step-by-step.
• Dissent -> People stop conforming when someone rejects the majority view and goes their own way.
• Disobedience -> People stop doing what they're told when they have a role model to follow.
• Social cryptomnesia -> People forget where a social change came from.
• Augmentation principle -> The minority suffers for its cause.
• Consistency -> A minority has to stick to its message.
• Deeper processing -> The majority thinks more about the minority's message.
• Social proof -> The majority are eventually given evidence of the problem.
• Minority influence brings about social change because it stimulates divergent thinking and new ideas.
• The snowball effect refers to the point at which a minority view becomes the majority view.
• Social change refers to change at the level of society rather than the individual.
• An example of the augmentation principle is how black freedom riders were beaten for sitting on segregated buses intended for white people only.
• Civil rights marches in America drew the attention of the majority to the plight of black people.
• The study by Nolan et al. (2008) found that people used less energy when they believed most other people were using less.