Social influence and social change

• What is the definition of social change?

  This occurs when WHOLE societies, not just individuals, adopt new attitudes and beliefs and ways of doing things. Examples include accepting the earth orbits the sun, women's suffrage, environmental issues etc.
• What are the six steps involved in how minority social influence creates social change?

  1) Drawing attention to the issue- e.g the augmentation principle

  2) Consistency (overtime and with each other) makes them get taken more seriously

  3) deeper processing of the issue

  4) the augmentation principle- if the minority appear willing to suffer then impact is increased and they're taken more seriously

  5) the snow ball effect- as minority increases so does support and issues being promoted spread more widely, until it reaches a tipping point and the minority becomes the majority.

  6) social cryptoamnesia- people have a memory a change has occurred yet don't remember how it happened.
• What lessons have been learnt about social change 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. Such dissent has the potential to ultimately lead to social change.

  -Environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity processes by appealing to normative social influence. They do this by providing information about what other people are doing e.g reducing litter by printing messages like 'Bin it-others do.' Social change is encouraged by drawing attention to what the majority is doing.
• How did Zimbardo suggest obedience can be used to create social change?


  Obedience can 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. People essentially 'drift' into a new kind of behaviour.
• What is social cryptomnesia?


  People have a memory that change has occurred but don't remember how it happened.
• What is the augmentation principle?


  The majority paying attention to the minory due to them doing drastic action. If this drastic action presents risk to the minority it shows greater commitment and causes majority group members to pay even more attention.
• What is the process of gradual commitment?

  Once a small instruction is obeyed it becomes much harder to resist a bigger one. People essentially 'drift' into a new pattern of behaviour.
• AO3: strength, psychologists can explain how minority influence brings about social change. What does Nemeth say about minority influence bringing about social change?


  Nemeth claims social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire. When people consider minority arguments, they engage in divergent thinking. This type of thinking is broad, rather than narrow, in which the thinker actively searches for information and weighs up more options. Nemeth argues that this leads to better decisions and more creative solutions to social issues. This is why dissenting minorities are valuable- they stimulate new ideas and open minds in a way that majorities cannot.
• AO3: limitation, who disagrees with the idea that people are supposedly converted because they think more deeply about the majorities views and why?


  Some people are supposedly converted because they think more deeply about the majorities views. Diane Mackie disagrees and presents evidence that it is the majority influence that may create deeper processing if you do not share their views. This is because we like to believe that other people share our views and think in the same way as us. When we find out a majority believes something different, then we are forced to think long and hard about their arguments and reasoning.