social influence/change

• Lessons from minority influence research

  1. drawing attention
  2. consistency
  3. deeper processing
  4. augmentation principle
  5. snowball effect
  6. social cryptomnesia
• Lessons from minority influence research - 1)drawing attention

  Segregation in 1950s America- places like restaurants and schools in southern states were exclusive to white people. Civil rights marches drew attention to the situation by providing social proof of the problem
• Lessons from minority influence research - 2)consistency

  People took part in the civil rights marches on a large scale. Even though it was a minority of the American population, they displayed consistency of message and intent.
• Lessons from minority influence research - 3)deeper processing

  This activism meant that many people who had accepted the status quo began thinking deeply about the unjustice of segregation in 1950S America
• Lessons from minority influence research - 4)augmentation principle


  Freedom riders were both white as well as black people who boarded buses in the south to challenge separate seating for black people. Many were beaten. The personal risk strengthened their message
• Lessons from minority influence research - 5)snowball effect

  Civil rights activists gradually got the attention of the US government. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed. Change happens bit by bit just as a rolling snowball grows as it gathers more snow
• Lessons from minority influence research - 6)social cryptomnesia


  Social change came about but some people have no memory of the events leading to that change
• Lessons from conformity research

  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

  Normative social influence - environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity by appealing to normative social influence., They provide information about what others are doing
• Lessons from obedience research

  Milgrams research - disobedient models in the variation where a confederate refused to give shocks. The rate of obedience in genuine participants plummeted.

  Zimbardo - once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes more difficult to resist a bigger one. People drift into a new kind of behaviour.
• Evaluation

  One strength is support for normative influence in social change. Nolan hung messages on front doors of houses. The key message was most residents are trying to reduce energy usage. Significant decreases in energy use compared to a control group who saw messages to save energy with no reference to other peoples behaviour. This shows conformity can lead to social change through the operation of normative social influence.
• Evaluation

  One strength is that minority influence explains social change. Nemeth says that minority arguments cause people to engage in divergent thinking. This thinking leads to better decisions and creative solutions to social problems. This shows that minorities are valuable because they stimulate new ideas and open people's minds.
• Evaluation

  One limitation is barriers to social change. The steps involved in the process of social change provide practical advice for minorities wanting to influence a majority. Even so, majorities still often resist change because they find the minority unappealing. But even this can be counteracted. This shows that minority influence research does provide practical applications that eventually influence majorities to change.