Social Influence

conformity

how an individual or small group change their behaviour and/or attitudes as a result of the influence of a larger group when there is no direct request for them to do so

explanations of conformity

• informational social influence: changing thoughts/actions because you are uncertain of what to do so look to the majority for info on what to do (desire to be right). more likely to occur in ambiguous situations. more likely to result in internalisation

• normative social influence: changing behaviour because you want to be liked/accepted by those in the majority (desire to be liked). most likely to result in compliance.

explanations of conformity ep1 sherif’s research support

• study using autokinetic effect supports existence of isi

• sherif found when pts were asked to judge how far a spot of light had moved in a dark room, estimates were relatively stable when answering individually but there was considerable variation between pts. when put in groups of 3 their judgements converged towards towards a group norm

• sherif suggests this is because the task is difficult and thus pts more likely to look to others for guidance

• thus supporting view isi leads to conformity

explanations of conformity ep2 asch’s research support

• found when pts asked to give an answer to an easy task (judging which out of 3 lines was same as sample line) but confederates answered first, all giving same wrong answer, there was a 32% general conformity rate across critical trials

• as task was easy suggests pts conformed to fit in

• supports nsi as explanation for conformity

explanations of conformity ep3 research has useful applications

• members of a jury may feel pressured to conform through nsi which could lead to a miscarriage of justice

• this knowledge can be used by courts to make jurors aware of importance of being able to cast vote privately to reduce pressure to conform

• should result in fairer verdict

• shows psychological research can have real benefits in society

3 types of conformity (identified by kelman)

• compliance

• identification

• internalisation

compliance

• most superficial type

• occurs when one wants to achieve favourable reaction from other group members

• one will adopt this behaviour to gain specific rewards/avoid punishment and disapproval

• it is likely the person doesn’t actually agree with the group and will stop conforming when the group pressures aren’t there

• conforms at public not private level

• usually results from nsi

identification

• one adapts behaviour because they value membership of a particular group

• one maintains group beliefs/behaviour even when not with the group

• however still temporary as when one leaves the group they are likely to revert to old behaviour

• demonstrated in zimbardo’s prison study

internalisation

• deepest level

• aka ‘tru conformity’

• one accepts the influence of the group because the ideas/actions are rewarding and consistent with their own views

• one will show conformity to a group because he or she genuinely agrees with their views (they’ve been internalised)

• leads to permanent change

• usually results from isi

types of conformity ep1 asch’s study supports compliance

• when asch interviewed pts post-procedure to work out why they conformed to obviously wrong answer, though a few reported they’d been distorted by the majority, most said they conformed to avoid rejection and were aware they were giving wrong answer

• supports the view they changed answer temporarily to avoid disapproval of group

• supports view nsi leads to compliance

types of conformity ep2 sherif’s study supports internalisation

• when asked to judge how far a spot of light had moved in a dark room (task that had no right answer) there were wide variations between pts answers

• however in groups of 3 a group norm was established that was maintained in a further individual condition

• suggests they had internalised the group norm answers

types of conformity ep3 research has practical applications

• alerts us to the fact that if the majority are attempting to effect a permanent change in behaviour it is important they truly persuade the minority away from existing view/behaviour

• failure to do so may result in little more than a superficial temporary change

• ex. those attempting to change behaviour of heavy drinkers/smokers may achieve in a group setting through compliance but a permanent change in behaviour will only be achieved if message is strong and persuasive enough to be internalised

sherif’s research into isi and internalisation procedure

• carried out lab experiment using repeated measures design

• used autokinetic effect to demonstrate conformity (optical illusion that stationary light is perceived as moving when a person is in a completely dark room)

• pts first asked to judge alone over several trials how far light appeared to move (condition 1)

• condition 2 - pts in groups of 3 and asked to estimate again aloud

• condition 3 - back to individual estimates

sherif’s findings

• condition 1 pts estimates were stable but considerably different between pts

• condition 2 judgements converged to group norm

• condition 3 individual pts maintained group norm

sherif’s conclusions

• when faced with ambiguous situation pts look to each other for guidance

• can be explained by isi

• internalised the group norm

sherif ep1 high internal validity

• due to controlled conditions

• isolated variable of isi (working in group of 3) and measure its effect on pts

• demonstrated internalisation in lab setting which is hard to manipulate experimentally

• allows us to draw firm conclusions about role of isi

• can influence real life ex. employers may find working groups are more effective at solving problems rather than relying on individuals to generate solutions

sherif ep2 other research has supported the view conformity occurs in ambiguous situations - increases reliability

• jenness asked pts to estimate number of jellybeans in a jar

• found in group condition answer converged to norm and in second private estimate individuals tended to mvoe towards group norm

• reliability adds weight

• however lab setting may impact ecological validity

sherif ep3 lack of mundance realism

• judging how far a spot of light moves in a dark room is unlikely to feel like an important task to pts so it is likely they will care less about their answer than in a real life setting

• this means lab studies may exaggerate the amount of conformity in the field as they are using trivial tasks rather than issues people care about where they may be less prepared to change their view

asch’s research into nsi and compliance aims and procedure

• to see if pts would feel pressured into conforming to an obviously wrong answer

• pts asked to match one standard line with 3 possibilities

• in control of 36 pts taking part in 20 trials each only 3 mistakes were made over total 720 trials

• pts in experimental condition (n=50, male college students) tested in groups of 7, 8 or 9 - all other members of group were confederates

• naive pts always last or second to last to answer

• confederates gave same wrong answer on 12/18 trials - referred to as critical trials

asch’s findings and conclusions

• 26% of pts didn’t conform on any critical trials

• 5% of pts conformed on every trial

• 74% of pts conformed at least once

• 32% was basic conformity rate

• after experiment asked why they conformed - some wanted to please experimenter and thought they wanted conformity, a few genuinely doubted their own eyesight and others didn’t want to appear different/a fool

• demonstrates nsi and compliance

asch ep1 useful applications

• alerts us to fact public voting may be affected by nsi thus organisations that require members’ opinions should ask privately

• this has been taken on board by trade unions who use secret ballots instead of show of hands when voting on an issue

asch ep2 cultural bias

• smith and bond analysed over 100 studies using an asch type procedure and found collectivist cultures conform more than individualist

• asch’s research was in individualist culture - emphasis on independence and autonomy

• in a collectivist culture we’d expect more conformity due to importance of inter-dependence and being part of a group

• may not be able to generalise results to all cultures/sub cultures

asch ep3 lacks mundane realism

• artifical task with trivial nature

• unlikely pts felt strongly about task because tis not an emotive issue

• in real situation conforming may involve compromising one’s values ex. being with group of people who laugh at a racist joke

• this may mean someone is less likely to conform due to normative pressures and asch may have overestimated conformity

• also lacks ecological validity

asch’s research into group size

• manipulated size of majority - pts tested using either 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10 or 15 confederates

• conformity only 3% when 1 confederate

• conformity 13% with 2 confederates

• conformity 33% with 3 confederates and didn’t increase much beyond this

• in some conditions a larger group of 15 confederates led to less conformity - may have raised suspicion

asch’s research into unanimity

• wanted to see if one person dissenting from majority would affect the likelihood of pts conforming

• when pts had one confederate ally who gave right answer before pts answered conformity dropped to 5.5%

• when confederate dissenter gave dif wrong answer, conformity still dropped to 9%

asch’s research into difficulty of the task

• conformity increases when task becomes more difficult

• asch found making line lengths more similar conformity increased

factors affecting conformity ep1 weaknesses in sample and stimuli used to measure conformity

• pts required to judge line lengths - artificial task lacking mundane realism as it doesn’t involve moral/ethical consideration

• thus while group size and unanimity increased conformity this might not occur in reality

• thus lacks ecological validity

factors affecting conformity ep2 useful applications

• understanding optimum number needed in majority to exert pressures on minority could be used in schools to ensure problematic children are grouped with 3 others who are more well behaved

• unanimity could be used in business setting - when management committee may be attempting to influence new member they should be aware of importance of maintaining same public opinion even if privately some members disagree with company line

• in jury setting may be hard for 1 or 2 jurors to express true opinion if faced with 10 or 11 in agreement - may be better if jurors discuss and then write their verdict down privately

factors affecting conformity ep3 task difficulty/unanimity doesn’t always increase conformity

• need to consider individual differences

• perrin and spencer conducted line length experiment on science and engineering students finding only 1 conforming response in 396 trials

• lucas suggests task difficulty influence is moderated by self-efficacy of pts

• ex. pts confident in own abilities conformed less than those with less self-efficacy even under conditions of high task difficulty

• thus individual differences are important factor that may mitigate conformity

zimbardo’s stanford prison study aims

• test dispositional vs situational hypothesis - are prison guards violent because of their personality or their roles?

• to test the extent to which pts would adopt their role even though they were determined randomly

zimbardo’s procedure

• 21 male student volunteers all psychologically stable

• pts randomly assigned to role of prisoner/guard

• zimbardo played prison superintendent

• study took place in standford uni basement converted into mock prison

• prisoners arrested at their homes by local police, taken to the prison, stripped and deloused

• dehumanised by wearing loose fitting smock, nylon stocking cap (to emulate shaved head) and referred to by number not name

• guards deindividuated by wearing a uniform, reflective sunglasses and being referred to only as ‘mr correctional officer’

• guards told to keep prisoners in line, but no specific instructions given. no physical violence allowed. meant to be 2 weeks

zimbardo’s findings

• within a day prisoners rebelled and ripped off their numbers

• guards responded by locking them in their cells and taking away their blankets

• guards became increasingly sadistic - prisoners humiliated, deprived of sleep and made to carry out demeaning tasks (ex. cleaning toilets with bare hands)

• prisoners became depressed and submissive. some showed serious signs of distressed. one prisoner released after 36 hours due to fits of crying an rage. three more released with similar symptoms over next few days

• study ended early after 6 days due to unforeseen effects on prisoners

zimbardo’s conclusions

• supports situational hypothesis - pts adopted behaviour associated with role they were given even though they were randomly determined, and no psychological abnormality was found in pts before study

• conforming to social roles leads people to behave differently to how they normally would

zimbardo ep1 doesn’t fully support situational hypothesis

• fails to explain why not all the guards behaved equally aggressively to prisoners

• some were reluctant to exercise authority whereas one guard specifically was seen as ringleader - suggests individual differences play a role

• therefore can’t be regarded as stand-alone explanation without taking into account additional contributory factors ex. bio predisposition which combined with the situation may trigger aggressive behaviour

zimbardo ep2 lacks reliability

• reicher and haslam replicated his study and broadcasted it on the bbc

• guards were unwilling to impose authority on prisoners who rapidly took charge

• following breakdown of authority both groups attempted to establish a fair and equal system

• when this failed small group of prisoners took control and study was called off

• suggests zimbardo’s findings may be due to flawed methodology, lacked temporal validity and people are now less likely to conform if it harms others or social roles are now less rigidly defined than in the past

zimbardo ep3 ethical issues

• criticised for not accurately assessing potential impacts on pts and failing to call a halt soon enough

• due party to him being prison superintendent thus not being distant enough from procedure to maintain professionalism

• means he failed in his duty to protect welfare of his pts

• his involvement in the study could have impacted pts - could have unknowingly cued them to behave a certain way

• artificiality of situation could have led to change in behaviour due to demand characteristics invalididating results

milgrim’s study into obedience aims

• interested in researching how far people woudl go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person

• test the belief, following nazi atrocities, that ‘germans are different’ - he believed in the right circumstances anyone is capable of performing an evil act

milgram’s procedure

• volunteers recruited for study investigating effects of punishment on learning - 40 males aged 20-50 from range of occupations

• at start of experiment introduced to another pts who was actually a confederate. they drew straws to determine role as teacher or learner - rigged so confederate was always learner

• learner (mr wallace) taken to an adjoining room and strapped to a chair and attached to electrodes so he could receive shock from an electricity generator. after he’s been read a list of word pairs the teacher tests him by naming a word and asking learner to recall its pair from list of 4 possible choices

• teacher told to administer electric shock every time they answer wrong, increasing strength each time. 30 switches on shock generator marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 volts (danger - severe shock). unbeknown to pts no actual shocks were received by pts and his protests were from a pre taped recording

• learner gave mainly wrong answers - when teacher refused to administer a shock the experimenter was to give a series of orders/prods to ensure they continued

milgram’s results and conclusions

• all 40 of pts obeyed up to 300 volts

• overall 65% pts gave shocks up to 450 volts and 35% stopped sometime between 300 and 450 volts

• many pts showed signs of nervousness/tension including trembling, stuttering, digging fingernails into flesh and 3 experienced seizures

• ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure even to the extent of killing an innocent human being - obedience to authority ingrained in us from birth

agentic state

• milgram suggested we operate on 1 of 2 levels

• mostly in autonomous mode - feel responsible for our own behaviour thus likely to act according to law and conscience as we know we are accountable

• however in some situations one may slip into agentic state

• this occurs when individual feels able to pass responsibility for their actions onto an authority figure - regards themselves as an agent of the authority figure thus no longer responsible for their actions

• allows them to act in ways they normally wouldn’t

legitimate authority

• people are socialised to act on requests of legitimate authority

• tend to obey them because we assume they know what they’re doing

• if someone has legitimate authority they have a role that is defined by society that gives them a right to exert control over others

• may obey them because we trust them or because we assume they have the power to punish us

• may come from person’s status in society which may by conveyed by a uniform, or their position in the family structure

explanations of obedience ep1 research to support role of agentic state

• film evidence and transcripts from milgram’s study show many pts were reluctant to continue with procedure but were more willing to do so when they were assured by the experimenter they weren’t responsible for the outcomes and the experimenter would take full responsibility if anything happened to mr wallace

• suggests they were operating in agentic mode

• many historical examples were people commit atrocities and blame them on authority by saying ‘i was just following orders’ etc. such as adolph eichmann who orchestrated the final solution and william calley

explanations of obedience ep2 useful applications

• both eichmann and calley were convicted of their crimes

• their defence of 'only following orders’ wasn’t accepted

• thus if we can educate people to recognise the dangers of blind obedience to malevolent authority and ensure people understand they are accountable for their actions then we may reduce the amount of destructive obedience in society

• thus some criticisms of milgram’s research may be unfounded ex. suggestion research can enable people to get away with their bheaviour by blaming an authority figure

• milgram is not suggesting this rather that we all need to be aware we are responsible for our own behaviour

explanations of obedience ep3 research to support legitimacy of authority figure impacts obedience

• when milgram moved study to rundown office and experimenter appeared to be member of the public obedience dropped to 47.5% from 65% in yale uni

• bickman found 92% of pedestrians obeyed an order to give a stranger money for a praking meter when the person giving the order was dressed as a security guard, compared to 49% in ordinary clothing

proximity

• how close the person is to the consequences of their actions when obeying an authority figure

• milgram found the further the pts was from mr wallace the more they are able to avoid witnessing the consequences of their behaviour thus more likely to obey

• proximity of pts to experimenter also has an affect as the pts feels pressure to obey if they are in the same room

location

• some locations increase perceived legitimacy of authority figure

• milgram’s study was in yale uni (prestigious)

• this may have increased obedience compared to if it was carried out in a less prestigious institution

uniform

• uniform can give perception of greater authority

• thus we’d expect higher obedience if person giving order is wearing uniform

role of situational factors on obedience ep1 research evidence to support role of proximity

• milgram found when teacher and learner were in same room obedience dropped to 40%

• when experimenter left the room and gave orders over the phone obedience dropped to 20.5%

• shows having to directly face consequences of your actions or not being directly faced with the authority figure reduces obedience

role of situational factors on obedience ep2 research evidence to support roles of location and uniform

• bickman found 92% of pedestrians obeyed an order to give a stranger parking meter money when person giving order was dressed as a security guard compared to 49% when in ordinary clothes

• milgram found when he moved his procedure from yale to a rundown office and the experimenter appeared to be a member of the public obedience dropped to 48%

• both factors can be linked to legit authority

role of situational factors on obedience ep3 research fails to consider other factors that might be important in understanding obedience

• kilman and mann replicated milgram’s original study procedures in australia but found that only 16% of pts shocked the learner at max voltage of 450v

• whereas mantell found it was 85% when conducted in germany

• this cross-cultural comparison shows that in dif societies children may be socialised differently from a young age to be more/less obedient

• suggests while situational factors are important, other factors may be more significant

authoritarian personality

• identified by adorno et al

• results from upbringing with strict, dogmatic parents who are emotionally distant - tend to use harsh physical punishments for disobedience thus instilling in the child the need to obey authority

• leads to high respect for authority as well as belief that they have the right to control/dominate those they believe to be below them in the hierarchy

authoritarian personality as explanation for obedience ep1 research evidence to support its linked to increased obedience

• zillmer et al reported 16 nazi war criminals scored highly on 3 of the f scale dimensions

• elms and milgram found highly obedient pts in milgram’s study scored significantly higher on the f scale than the less obedient pts

• both these studies offer support for authoritarianism leading to obedience

• however as zillmer found only 3 dimensions on f scale were relevant - may question if it is authoritarian personality to a few traits that link to obedience

authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience ep2 difficulty establishing cause andf effect

• supporting research is correlational thus lacks internal validity

• in elms and milgrams study we can’t say having an authoritarian personality caused higher obedience because there may have been another unaccounted for variable(s) that were responsible for personality and obedience

• its not possible in any retrospective study to establish the direction of the effct

• it could be authoritarian views results from experience of nazi regime rather than the other way around

authoritarian personality ep3 theory may be subject to research bias

• it presumes the authoritarian personality is exclusively limited to right wing individuals

• however conway devised a scale to measure dogmatic and authoritarian views in left wing individuals and found a parallel with adorno’s results indicating left-wing individuals are just as likely to be authoritarian

• shows expectations of researcher may skew our view of personality types likely to be associated with increased obedience

social support

• having an ally/dissenter helps people to resist the pressure to conform/obey

• this is social support

• in terms of conformity they no longer fear being ridiculed

• in terms of obedience they no longer fear punishment as it will be shared

locus of control

• extent to which individuals believe they can control events in their lives

• high internal locus of control - believe events result primarily from their own behaviour/actions

• high external locus of control - powerful others, fate or chance determine events

• high internal locus leads to better control of behaviour and more likely to attempt to influence other people as they are more likely to assume their efforts will be successful

• tend to be more confident and less likely to need approval from others so less likely to conform

• we’d expect those with high internal locus to resist pressures to conform

explanations of resistance to social influence ep1 research findings support social support increasing likelihood of resisting obedience

• milgram found when there were 2 disobedient confederates present in the procedure obedience dropped to 10%

• when there were 2 obedient pts obedience rose to 92.5%

• asch found when 1 confederate dissented from majority and gave right answer conformity dropped to 5.5%

• percentage remained same even when confederate dissenter gave different answer but still wrong

• important factor was support for deviation not answer

explanations of resistance to social influence ep2 research to support role of internal locus of control in resisting social influence

• elms and milgram investigated background of some of disobedient pts from milgram’s first 4 experiments

• found they had high internal locus of control and scored higher on a scal measuring their sense of social responsibility

• oliner and oliner interviewed 2 groups of non-jewish people who experienced the holocaust in germany

• compared 406 people who had rescued jews with 126 who hadn’t

• rescuers were more likely to have scores demonstrating high internal locus and high measures of social responsibility

explanations of resistance to social influence ep3 supporting research lacks internal validity

• correlational

• can’t establish cause and effect

• may be another factor involved

• ex. certain parental styles may lead to high internal locus and high levels of independence

• research lacks reliability as not all studies support view locus of control is associated with resistance to social influence

• williams and warchal studied 30 uni students who were given a range of conformity tasks based on asch’s procedure

• each student assessed using rotter’s locus of control scale

• found those who conformed didn’t score differently on locus scale but were less assertive so that may be more linked to conformity than locus

minority influence

• when an individual or small group change the behaviour/attitudes of a larger group - the opposite of conformity

• usually results in internalisation because it is likely to result from isi

3 factors a minority needs to be successful

• consistency: maintaining the same view

  • diachronic consistency - over time

  • synchronic consistency - between group members

• flexibility: ability to adapt and compromise

• commitment (augmentation principle): if the minority is willing to suffer for their views they are taken more seriously by the majority - the impact of their position on the majority is ‘augmented’

moscovici et al’s minority influence study aims

• investigate effects of a consistent minority on a majority

• rerun of asch’s study but in reverse

• insetead of one pts and majority confederates he placed 2 confederates with 4 pts

• pts eye tested first to ensure they weren’t colour blind

moscovici procedure

• 172 female pts who were told they were taking part in a colour perception task

• each pts placed in group of 2 confederates and 4 pts

• shown 36 slides which were clearly different shades of blue and asked to state the colour of each aloud

• consistent condition: 2 confederates answered green for every slide

• inconsistent condition: confederates answered green 24 times and blue 12 times

moscovici results and conclusion

• consistent minority influenced pts to say green on over 8% of trials

• inconsistent minorty influenced only 1.25% of trials and didn’t differ significantly from the control

• thus minorities can influence a majority but not all the time and only when they behave in certain ways (ex. consistent)

moscovici ep1 supporting research

• nemeth and brilmayer studied role of flexibility in simulated jury incident where group members discussed amount of compensation to be paid to someone in a ski-lift accident

• when a confederate put forward alternative view and refused to change his position this had no effect on other groups members

• a confederate who compromised thus showing a degree of shift to majority did exert influence over the group

• however this was only evident in those who shifted late in negotiations - perceived as flexibility not caving in

• supports view genuine flexibility is important factor in influencing majorities

moscovici ep2 issues with research

• artificiality of tasks make it hard to draw conclusions

• shifting opinion on colour of a slide is not a complex issue like animal rights or climate change

• research doesn’t take into account struggles of real minorities

• real majorities have power and status as well as numbers

• thus researchers may have overestimated power that minorities have in reality

moscovici ep3 may be more useful to consider real successful minorities than using artificial tasks

• ex. looking at women’s rights movement - consistency, commitment and flexibility contributed to winning the same voting rights as men in 1928

• commitment to message - hunger strikes

• consistency - didn’t change message over time

• flexibility - suffragettes halted movement during ww1 to support the country

social change

• occurs when whole society adopts a new attitude/belief/behaviour

• occurs through minority influence processes

cognitive conflict/dissonance

mental conflict occurring when one’s behaviours and beliefs don’t align

social cryptoamnesia

failure to credit minorities for their role in social change

snowball effect

when a movement grows in significance/size at increasingly faster pace

stages of social change

• drawing attention to an issue: minorities bring majority’s attention to an issue

• cognitive conflict: if minority view conflicts with existing values of majority this may cause shift to minority view to reduce the cognitive dissonance - doesn’t always result in move to minority view but leads majority to think more deeply about an issue

• consistency of position: minorities are more influential over time and if they all share the same view

• augmentation principle: if a minority appears willing to suffer for their views they’re taken more seriously

• snowball effect: minority influence usually starts with small effect but spreads widely as more people consider the issue at hand until it reaches a tipping point when it leads to wide-scale change - initially winning over some is due to individuals resolving cognitive conflict and internalising minority message - later wider shift associated with nsi and compliance

• social cryptoamnesia: aka dissociation model, majority take on board minority view but either forget where it came from or deliberately dissociate themselves because minorities tend to have a negative image the majority don’t want to be associated with so they distance themselves from the source of the info

social change process with example - suffragettes

• drawing attention to issue: suffragettes used educational and political and militant tactics to draw attention to the fact women were denied same voting rights as men

• cognitive conflict: suffragettes created conflict between status quo (only male suffrage) and the position advocated by the suffragettes (female suffrage) - some dealt with this by moving towards the suffragettes and others dismissed it

• consistency of position: consistent in views regardless of those around them and protests and lobbying continued for years before universal suffrage

• augmentation principle: suffragettes willing to risk imprisonment or even death from hunger strike thus their influence became more powerful

• snowball effect:

• social cryptoamnesia: overwhelming people in society agree with the voting rights of women yet many fail to recognise the struggle to get there and wouldn’t align themselves with feminist groups

research into social change ep1 research to support cryptoamnesia

• bashir et al found pts were less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways because they didn’t want to be associated with stereotypical and minority environmentalists

• they rated environmental activists and feminists negatively, describing them as militant, tree huggers and man haters

• as a result people were less willing to adopt social change behaviours advocated by activists

• thus to explain recent shift to environmentally friendly behaviours becoming the norm, social cryptoamnesia must have occured - society must have forgoteen where the message came from in order for social change to happen

research into social change ep2 evidence for role of majority influence in social change

• nolan et al hung messages on front doors of houses in san diego that either told them most residents were trying to reduce energy usage or asked them to reduce their energy usage but made no reference to other residents

• significant decreases in energy usage in first group only

• shultz found 75% guests re-used their towels each day rather than requiring a fresh one when seeing the message ‘most guests in this room reuse’

• this implies people are more willing to change their habits if they believe a majority of others have done so too thus demonstrating how majority influence can impact social change

research into social change ep3 future minority groups can apply processes found in research to bring further social change

• bashir’s advice to minorities is to avoid behaving in ways that reinforce the stereotypes as this will be offputting to the majority

• ex. communism owes much to the careful way in which an influential minority overcame a deviant problem - to avoid being portrayed as deviants communists made it clear in their manifesto they had no interests separate from those of the majority (proletariat)

• communist minority emphasised they were part of the proletariat and the struggle was actually with the bourgeoisie