Social Influence & Social Change

what is the sequence of social change

drawing attention, consistency, deeper processing, the augmentation principle, snowball effect, social cryptomnesia

what is drawing attention

drawing attention to the situation through social proof

what is consistency

consistency of the message & intent over an extended period of time to allow for deeper processing

what is deeper processing

Deeper processing of the issue makes people think about the unjustness of the issue that the minority is protesting

what is the augmentation principle

The augmentation principle is demonstrating commitment through personal risk

what is the snowball effect

when more and more of the majority adopt the minority view & accept the cause

what is social cryptomnesia

when people have a memory that change had happened but don't remember how it occurred

what lessons are learnt from conformity research

the importance of dissent to break the power of the majority/the chain of conformity & encourage others to do likewise. Dissent has the potential to lead to social change

what lessons are learnt from obedience research

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

explain the strength research support shows that social influence processes based on psychological research do work

one researcher investigated if she could change people’s energy using habits; researchers hung messages on doors every week for one month. The message was that most residents were trying to reduce their energy usage. There were significant decreases in energy uses

explain the weakness some studies show that people’s behaviour is not always changed through exposure to social norms

one researcher reviewed social norms interventions and found that when the social norms approach was used to reduce student alcohol use, there was only a small reducing in drinking quantity and no effect on drinking frequency

explain the strength psychology can explain how minority influence brings about social change

one psychologist explains social change due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire. When people consider minority arguments, they engage in divergent thinking, which is broad, this leads to between decisions and more creative solutions to social issues

explain the weakness deeper processing may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change

One psychologist proposed that it is the majority influence that creates deeper processing if you do not share their views, this is because we like to think that other people share our views & think the same way as us. When we find out that the majority thinks differently to us, we are forced to think about their arguments and reasoning