social influence and social change

• the 6 lessons from minority influence are:

  • drawing attention
  • consistency
  • deeper processing
  • augmentation principle
  • snowball effect
  • social crytomnesia
• drawing attention makes people listen to what you are trying to change. For example, civil rights marches drew attention to the situation of the segregation in 1950s America by providing social proof of the problem
• consistency refers to displaying the same message and intent. For example, people took part in the marches on a large scale. Even though it was a minority of the American population
• deeper processing is when people accepted the status quo they began thinking deeply about the unjustness of it
• snowball effect refers to change occurring bit by bit just as a rolling snowball grows as it gathers more snow
• social cryptomnesia is when social change occurs but some people have o memory (crytomnesia) of the events leading to that change
• social change is when a whole society change their beliefs/behaviours through minority influence processes like the snowball effect
• One limitation is that deeper processing may apply to majority influence. Mackie disagrees with the view that minority influence causes individuals in the majority to think deeply about an issue. Majority influence creates deeper processing because we believe others think as we do. When a majority thinks differently, this creates pressure to think about their views. Therefore a central element of minority influence has been challenged, casting doubt on its validity as an explanation of social change