Social influence and social change

• what are the six lessons from minority influence research?

  1. civil rights marches drew attention to segregation
  2. a minority marched but they were consistent
  3. deeper processing
  4. augmentation principle
  5. snowball effect
  6. social cryptomnesia occurred
• (1) civil rights marches drew attention to segregation

  segregation in 1950s america: places such as schools and restaurants in the southern state were exclusive to whites. civil rights marches drew attention to the situation by providing social proof of the problem.
• (2) a minority marched but they were consistent

  people took part in the marches on a large scale. even though it was a minority of the American population, they displayed consistency of message and intent.
• (3) deeper processing

  this attention meant that many people who had accepted the status quo began thinking about the unjustness of it.
• (4) augmentation principle

  'freedom riders' were mixed racial groups who got on buses in the south to challenge separate seating for black people. many were beaten and suffered mob violence.
• (5) snowball effect

  civil rights activists (e.g. Martin Luther king) gradually got the attention of the US government. in 1964 the civil rights act was passed, prohibiting discrimination- a change from minority to majority support for civil rights.
• (6) social cryptomnesia occurred

  this refers to people having a memory that a change happened but not remembering how. social change came about but some people have no memory of the events leading to that change.
• what are the two lessons from conformity research?

  1. dissenters make social change more likely
  2. majority influence and normative social influence (NSI).
• (1) dissenters make social change more likely

  asch's research: variation where one confederate always gave correct answers. this broke the power of the majority encouraging others to dissent. this demonstrates potential for social change.
• (2) majority influence and normative social influence (NSI)

  environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity by appealing to NSI. they provide information about what others are doing, e.g. reducing litter by printing normative messages in bins ('bin it- others do'). social change is encouraged by drawing attention to the majority's behaviour.
• what are the two lessons from obedience research?

  1. disobedient models make change more likely
  2. gradual commitment leads to 'drift'
• (1) disobedient models make change more likely

  milgram's research: disobedient models in the variation where a confederate refused to give shocks. the rate of obedience in genuine participants plummeted.
• (2) gradual commitment leads to 'drift' 


  zimbardo: once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes more difficult to resist a bigger one. people 'drift' into a new kind of behaviour.
• strength: research support of NSI in social change

  Nolan et al. hung messages on front of doors of houses. the key message was most residents are trying to reduce energy wastage. significant decreases in energy use compared to control group who saw messages to save energy with no reference to other's behaviour. so conformity can lead to social change through the operation of NSI.
• limitation: minority influence only indirectly effective in creating social change

  nemeth suggests the effects of minority influence are indirect and delayed. it took decades for attitudes against drink-driving and smoking to shift.

  indirect: the majority is influenced only on matters related to the central issues, and not the issue itself

  delayed: the effects are not seen for some time

  using minority influence to explain social change is limited as it shows that effects are fragile and its role in social influence narrow.
• limitation: identification overlooked in minority influence research

  bashir et al. suggest people are less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways because they wanted to avoid the label of being minority 'environmentalists'. participants rated environmental activists negatively ('tree huggers'). minorities wanting social change should avoid behaving in ways that reinforce stereotypes; off-putting to the majority. this suggests that being able to identify with a minority group is just as important as agreeing with their views in terms of changing behaviour.
• limitation: methodological issues


  explanations of social change rely on studies by moscivici, Asch and milgram. these can be evaluated in terms of methodology, mainly over the artificial nature of the tasks and whether the group dynamics reflect real-life. these criticisms apply to the evaluation of explanations for the link between social influence processes and social change