10. Social Influence and Social Change

• 1. Social Influence + Social Change

  Step 1 - Drawing Attention:

  • Through social proof.
  • Conflict should be reduced.

  Step 2 - Consistency:

  • Most influential/taken serious.
• 1a. Social Influence and Social Change

  Step 3 - Deeper Processing

  • Must inspire people to consider.
  • Majority begin to consider more deeply.

  Step 4 - Augmentation Principle

  • Suffer for cause/risk.
  • e.g. media attention.
• 1b. Social Influence and Social Change

  Step 5 - Snowball Effect

  • Spreads message widely.
  • Small impact first, then grows until reaches ‘tipping point’ = wide-scale change.

  Step 6 - Social Cryptomnesia

  • Becomes the ‘the norm’.
  • Knowledge of change but can‘t remember time before or how it happened.
• 2. Social Influence and Social Change

  Conformity Research - Asch (1951):

  • Conformity lower when dissenter.
  • Dissenter = social change.
  • Environmental campaigns use conformity processes by appealing to NSI.
  • Technique = ‘social norm intervention’.
• 2a. Social Influence and Social Change

  Obedience Research:

  Zimbardo (1973).

  • Social change through ‘gradual commitment’,
  • Small instruction obeyed, harder to refuse bigger one.
  • Drift into new attitudes.

  Milgram (1963).

  • Told to shock ‘Learner’ at 15v; gradually increased = blind obedience.
• Social Influence and Social Change (Evaluation)

  Strength:

  P - research shown social influence processes work.

  E - Nolan et al. (2008), see if change people’s energy-use habits, hung messages on houses for months.

  E - explained others trying reduce energy usage.

  L - decrease in usage; conformity lead to social change though operation of NSI.
• Social Influence and Social Change (Evaluation)

  Limitation:

  P - behaviours not always changed by exposure to social norms.

  E - Foxcroft et al. (2015), reviewed social norm interventions.

  E - 70 studies where social norms approach used to reduce alcohol use.

  L - only small reduction in drinking; normative influence not always produce long-term change.
• Social Influence and Social Change (Evaluation)

  Strength:

  P - explanation of how minority influence brings social change.

  E - Nemeth (2009), social change due to thinking minorities inspire.

  E - when consider minority argument, engage in divergent thinking; seek alternative info + consider diff options.

  L - shows why dissenting minorities valuable; opens mind in ways majorities can’t.
• Social Influence and Social Change (Evaluation)

  Limitation:

  P - Bashir (2013), people still resist social change.

  E - participants less likely behave in environmentally-friendly bc didn’t want to associate w/ stereotypical environmentalists.

  L - described them in negative ways; barriers to social change.

  Strength (Counter-Point):

  P - researchers still able suggests ways minorities overcome barriers to social change.

  L - shows minority influence research contributes towards social change.