social influence and social change

• Social change


  Alterations in the social order of a society
• Drawing attention


  • Civil rights marches drew attention to segregation in the 1950s in America
• Consistency


  • People who took part in marches displayed consistency of the message and intent
• Deeper processing


  • Activism led people to deeply think about the injustices
• Augmentation principle


  • Freedom rides were white and black, many were beaten. This personal risk augmented their message
• Snowball effect


  1. Civil activism gradually got the attention of the US government

  2. In 1964 the civil rights act was passed
• Social cryptoamnesia


  Social change happened but some people have no memory of the event or what led to that change
• Asch's research


  • Presence of a dissenter broke unanimity of the majority
• Dissenters


  • Make social change more likely
• Milgram's research


  • When a confederate refused to give shocks, so did the genuine participant
• Disobedient models


  • Make social change more likely
• Gradual commitment leads to drift


  Once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes difficult to resist a bigger one
• Environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity by appealing to NSI. they provide information about what others are doing