Social influence Flashcards

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1
Q

conformity

A

changes in idiv. behaviour an/or belief as a result of real/imagined group behaviour

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2
Q

types of conformity

A

compliance
identification
internalisation

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3
Q

compliance definition

A

-most superficial and least permanent change
-publicly change and privately revert back when group pressure stops
-NSI link

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4
Q

identification definition

A

-possible private as well as public appearance
-indiv. look to a group for guidance
-adjust their behaviour because membership of the group is desirable and they take on a role in the group
-when membership is no longer desirable, behaviour may revert back

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5
Q

internalisation definition

A

-deepest more permanent change in attitude
-indiv. publicly and privately change their behaviour to go along with the group norm
-accept them into our own cognitions
-ISI link

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6
Q

two explanations of conformity

A

-Informational social influence
-normative social influence

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7
Q

ISI definition

A

-desire to be right
-indiv. is unsure about how to behave
-conform by seeking info from the group
-assume its right
-cognitive process

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8
Q

NSI definition

A

-desire to be liked
-indiv. go along with group behav. to avoid ridicule and gain acceptance and fit in
-emotional process

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9
Q

AO3-RTS ISI as an expl. of conformity

A

-RTS ISI as an expl. of conformity conducted by Jenness
-ppts asked to indiv. estimate no. jelly beans in the jar
-group estimate
-last private individual guess
-Jenness found ppts second guess closer to groups estimate then original
-suggests ISI as an expl. of conformity because
-task was ambiguous as all ppts unaware so ppt sought infrp from the group and changed publicly and privately to be right

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10
Q

AO3-limitation of RTS ISI as an expl. of conformity-eco val

A

-lacks ecological validity
-took place in an artificial environment
-difficult to generalise findings to real life examples of ISI
-people may be less likely to conform for a group if there may be consequences for their actions, unlike a lab setting
-reducing external validity of the research in to ISIS and questioning ISI as an expl. for conformity

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11
Q

AO3-RTS NSI as an expl. for conformity

A

-conducted by Asch
-ppt asked to state which line A,B,C was closest in length to stimulus line ‘x’
-confederates answered first and gave an incorrect answer
-ppt conformed and said the same wrong answer 37% of the time
-supporting NSI as an expl. because
-the task was unambiguous the ppts later stated that they knew the answer but conformed in order to avoid ridicule

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12
Q

AO3-RTS NSI limitation

A

-gender bias
-difficult to generslise findings to female
-as suggested that women may be more conformist because they are more concerned about social relationships (Netto 1995)
-shows that NSI underlies conformity for some people (female) more than others (males)
-lowers external vakidity

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13
Q

Asch experiment on conformity AO1

A

-Lab experiment
-123 American male students
-ppt placed into groups with 7 to 9 confederates
-shown standard line ‘x’ and comparison lines A B C
-one of the lines were the same and the other two were substantially different
-ppts asked to say which was the same length
-ppt were always last or second last
-12/18 trials the confederates gave the same wrong answers
-37% the ppt gave the same wrong answers
-Post-experiment interviews found that the majority of participants conformed publicly during the experiment not privately as they wanted to avoid ridicule

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14
Q

variables affecting conformity

A

group size
unanimity
task difficulty

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15
Q

variables affecting conformity: group size AO1

A

-Conformity increases as size of majority group increases
-However, the size of the group stops having an effect on conformity once the group reaches a certain size.
-one real participant and one confederate conformity = 3%
-two confederates and one real participant conformity = 13%
-three confederates and one real participant conformity = 32%
-However, conformity plateaued after this.
-the size of the majority does have an effect on conformity but only to a point

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16
Q

variables affecting conformity: unanimity AO1

A

Unanimity = complete agreement from a group of people about an answer or viewpoint
-In the original conformity was 37%
-one confederate give the correct answers conformity = 5.5%
- ’lone’ confederate with an answer that was different from the majority and different to the correct answer, conformity = 9%
-Asch concluded that when a dissenter breaks the group’s unanimous position conformity decreases

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17
Q

variable affecting conformity: task difficulty AO1

A

-conformity increases when task difficulty increases
-made the stimulus line and comparison lines more similar in length
-the correct answer was less obvious and the task was harder
-ISI plays a greater role when the task becomes harder
-When situations are unclear, we are more likely to look to others for guidance.
-As the right answer becomes less obvious we lose confidence in our own ability and are more likely to conform

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18
Q

RTS variables affecting conformity-task difficulty

A

-Lucas et al
-asked students to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems
-ppt given three other answers from other fake students
-ppt conformed more often when problems were difficult rather than easy
-supporting Asch’s research as it suggests that when the task is harder, conformity increases

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19
Q

limitation to RTS variables affecting conformity.

A

-Lucas et al’s study found that conformity is more complex than Asch suggested
-ppts with high confidence in their maths abilities conformed less on the hard math problems than those with low confidence
-this shows that an individual-level factor can influence conformity and interact with situational variables such as task difficulty
-limiting Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity, as he did not research the roles of individual factors

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20
Q

limitation to Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity

A

-gender bias
-as only males were tested
therefore difficult to generalise the findings to females
-as it is suggested that females might be more conformist, regardless of the variable affecting conformity
-because they are more concerned about social relationships and are more concerned with being liked by their peers (Neto, 1995)
-this weakens the external validity of research into variables affecting conformity.

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21
Q

conformity to social roles definition

A

-Social roles are the parts that people play as members of various social groups e.g. teachers and students
-These are accompanied by expectations that we, and others, have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role
-We internalise these expectations, so they shape our behaviour

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22
Q

Conformity to social roles AO1

A

AIM: To investigate how freely people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that recreated prison life
-24 emotionally stable US male university students
-basement of stands uni psych department
-volunteers randomly allocated each student to the role of prisoner or guard
-prisoners were arrested at their homes,deloused and dressed in smock uniforms, number rather than by name
-guards were given uniforms, night stick and mirrored glasses, instructed to keep the prisoners under control but use no physical violence
-loss of personal identity, encouraging ppt to conform to social roles
-zimbardo took role as superintendent
-within a day the prisoners rebelled and ripped off their numbers
-as experiment continued, the punishments by the guards escalated
-prisoners started to refer to each other by their prisoner numbers
-3 prisoners were released early due to showing symptoms of psychological disturbance
-roe play was intended to run for two weeks but was called off after 6 days

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23
Q

limitation of research into conformity of social roles

A

-prone to demand characteristics
-zimbardo took role as prison superintendent
-zimbardo could have influenced how ppt act
-the ppt may have conformed to their roles because the this is what they believed zimbardo wanted them to do rather than because they were conforming to social roles

-the fact the ppts were paid for taking part in this experiment may have influenced this further
-therefore, lowering the internal validity of the research into conformity to social roles.

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24
Q

limitation of research into conformity to social roles

A

-ethical issues
-lack of informed consent- prisoners did not consent to be arrested at home
-lack of right to withdraw- when a prisoner wanted to leave, zimbardo acted like a superintendent rather than an experimenter with a responsibility to the ppt
-no protection from harm a some showed signs of psychological disturbance

-However zimbardo carried out debriefing sessions with the ppt for several years afterwards and concluded there were no long lasting effects

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25
Q

strength of research into conformity to social roles

A

-practical applications
-as it can be used to predict and explain behaviour in the real world
-actions displayed by soldiers in abu ghraib military prison in iraq were found to be similar to zimbardo’s findings as prisoners were tortured, humiliated and physically abused
-therefore zimbardo’s research can be used when developing prevention programmes to be used for training purposes
-good external validity as is an important part of applied psychology

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26
Q

obedience definition

A

type of social influence where somebody acts in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority
the person who receives the order may also respond in a way that they would have not done without the order

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27
Q

Milgram’s research into obedience

A

AIM: To investigate if individuals would obey the orders of an authority figure even if this led to negative consequences
-40 american males aged 20-50
-lab experiment at Yale university
-advert placed in a newspaper seeking volunteers supposedly researching memory on learning paid $4.50
-ppt introduced to another ppt who was actually a confederate
-they drew lots, which were rigged, and the real ppt was assigned the role of the ‘teacher’ and the confederate was always the learner
-teacher’s job was to administrate a learning task and deliver ‘electric shocks’ to the learner (in another room) if the learner got a question wrong
-shocks began at 15 volts and increased in increments of 15 volts to 450 volts
-The experimenter used prompts if the ‘teacher’ refused:
-“Please continue”
-“The experiment requires that you continue”
-Findings: All ppts went to at least 300 volts, with only 12.5% stopping at that point. 65% of ppts continued to the maximum 450 volts, showing high levels of obedience.
Conclusion: Ordinary people are obedient to authority when asked to behave in an inhumane way. It is not necessarily evil people who commit evil crimes but ordinary people who are just obeying orders.

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28
Q

limitation of Milgram’s research into obedience

A

-prone to demand characteristics
-it was a lab and the participants knew that they were taking part in an experiment
-therefore, they may have changed their natural behaviour to help the researcher
-for example by giving the electric shocks as they believed this is how they were supposed to act in the experiment, rather than because they were being obedient to the authority figure. This could be especially true as the participants were paid for taking part in the research. Thus, reducing the internal validity as Milgram may not have been truly measuring how obedient they were to authority.

29
Q

RTS milgrams research into obedience

A

-Hofling
-a study using nurses on a hospital ward who were ordered by an unknown doctor to give a dangerous dose of a drug to patients via a telephone
-21 out of the 22 nurses agreed to give the medication even though they knew not to take orders over the phone
-therefore, this supports the idea that we are obedient to authority (doctor) as the majority of nurses obeyed
-this strengthens Milgram’s research as it has good external validity and findings can be generalised to other settings

30
Q

limitation of milgram’s research into obedienc-gender bias

A

-gender bias
-as it only uses male participants
-difficult to generalise the findings to females, as they may have obeyed differently
-for example, some research suggests females may be more obedient because of their gender roles may dictate that they be more submissive
-this is demonstrated in Sheridan and King’s similar study whereby ppt were ordered to give real electric shocks to a puppy
-it was found that 100% of females obeyed, compared to 54% of males
-this weakens the external validity of Milgram’s research into obedience to authority

-However, Milgram could argue that he was trying to explain the behaviour of soldiers in Nazi Germany, who were largely male and this could be his reasoning for using a male only sample

31
Q

Situational variables affecting obedience AO1

A

proximity
location
power of uniform

32
Q

how did milgram measure PROXIMITY in his situational variable study

A

how far or close the ppt is to the victim
-In Milgram’s original experiment obedience was 65%
-When both the teacher and learner were in the same room obedience fell to 40%
-This was because the teacher could directly see how their behaviour was having an unpleasant consequence on the learner
-Furthermore, when the teacher was required to force the learners hand onto the electric shock plate obedience dropped even further to 30%
-In one proximity variation, the experimenter left the room and gave instructions to the teacher by telephone
-In this variation obedience fell to 20.5%, the closer an authority figure is to an individual, the more obedient that individual will be

33
Q

how did milgram measure LOCATION in his situational variable study

A

-The original experiment was conducted in a prestigious university Yale University
-Milgram wanted to test what would happen to obedience when the location of the experiment was changed.
-When the location was changed to a run-down office in a run-down part of town obedience fell from 65% at Yale University to 48% in the rundown office
-Milgram argued that this was because when the experiment was conducted in a run-down office the amount of perceived legitimate authority of the experimenter was reduced

34
Q

how did milgram measure POWER OF UNIFORM in his situational variable study

A

Power of Uniform: the wearing of uniforms can give a perception of added legitimate authority to the individual delivering the orders
-In Milgram’s experiment the researcher wore a grey lab coat, which gave him an ‘air’ of authority
-In one variation of Milgram’s study, experimenter in the lab coat called away from the experiment to answer a phone call. The role of the experimenter was taken over by an ‘ordinary member of the public’ who wore everyday clothes
-In this variation obedience dropped to 20%
-This suggests that uniform does act as a strong visual authority symbol and a cue to act in an obedient manner, and that when not in uniform the perceived legitimate authority of the experimenter was reduced

35
Q

RTS situational variables affecting obedience-Uniform

A

-Bickman in New York
-He had confederates dress in three different outfits:
-security guard, a milkman and a businessman and ask passers-by to pick up litter
-It was found that ppt were 2x as likely to follow the instructions of the confederate wearing a security guard uniform than the businessman
-therefore, supporting the power of uniform as a variable affecting obedience as participants were more likely to follow these orders

36
Q

limitation of Milgram’s situational variables affecting obedience-SAMPLE

A

-gender bias
-only uses male participants
-difficult to generalise the findings to females
-as they may have obeyed differently to the variables affecting obedience
-for example, some research suggests females may be more obedient because of their gender roles may dictate that they be more submissive
-this weakens the external validity of research into situational variables affecting obedience.

37
Q

limitation of Milgram’s situational variables espec. POU

A

-demand characteristics
-Orne and Holland (1968) made this point for Milgram’s original study and believed it was even more likely in his variation studies due to the extra manipulation of variables
-e.g. power of uniform variation when the experimenter left the room and a ‘member of the public’ gave the orders, even Milgram recognised that this situation was very staged and ppt may have worked out the truth
-limits internal validity as it is unclear whether the findings are due to obedience or because ppt saw through the deception and ‘play acted’

38
Q

Explanations for obedience

A

Agentic state
Legitimacy of authority

39
Q

Agentic state AO1

A

-people move from being in a state with personal responsibility for their actions (an autonomous state) to a state where they believe they are acting on behalf of an authority figure (agentic state)
-This is known as the agentic shift
-When an indiv. is in the agentic state, they lose sense of personal responsibility and no longer feel guilty for their actions as they see themselves as carrying out the wishes of a more knowledgeable authority figure
-If a person is in an agentic state, they will be more likely to obey

40
Q

Legitimacy of authority AO1

A

-Obedient indiv. accept the power and status of authority figures
-see them as being in charge
-the authority they have is legitimate in the sense that it is agreed by society
-We accept people’s credentials and believe they know what they are doing
- It is ingrained in us to obey these people- even when we believe the order may be unethical or unjust.
-Factors that can affect LOA are uniform and location
-This is shown in Milgram’s research as when he changed the experiment and instead conducted his research in a seedy office or gave orders over the telephone, obedience reduced as the experimenter has less legitimate authority

41
Q

Explanations of obedience to authority AO3 RTS-agentic state

A

-Milgram’s obedience studies
-Most of Milgram’s ppts resisted giving the shocks at some point and often asked the experimenter questions such as ‘Who is responsible if the learner is harmed?’
-When the experimenter responded ‘I am responsible’ the ppt continued to obey and give the electric shocks
-This supports the agentic state as an expl. for obedience as once the ppts no longer believed they were responsible for their actions they obeyed the experimenter

42
Q

Explanations of obedience to authority AO3 RTS

A

-Hofling
-study using nurses on a hospital ward who were ordered by an unknown doctor to give a dangerous dose of a drug to patients via a telephone.
-21 out of the 22 nurses agreed to give the medication even though they knew not to take orders over the phone (they were stopped before hand)
-Therefore, supports LOA as an expl. for obedience because the doctor had more authority than the nurses
-moreover, it could also support the agentic state as the nurses may have felt that the doctors were ultimately responsible as the authority figure, and this is why they obeyed

43
Q

Explanations of obedience to authority AO3 RTC the agentic state

A

-RTC the agentic state as an expl. for obedience to authority by Mandel
-described one incident involving German Nazi Soldiers where men obeyed the orders to shoot civilians in a small town in Poland
-However, they were told beforehand that they could be given other duties instead
-This contradicts the agentic state as an expl. of obedience as the soldiers chose to shoot the civilians over other duties, meaning that they would not be able to place the blame on an authority figure

44
Q

Dispositional explanation for obedience AO1

A

-Adorno
-idea that certain personality characteristics are associated with higher levels of obedience
-The authoritarian personality is a collection of personality traits from strict parenting during an individual’s childhood e.g. extremely strict discipline
-showing extreme respect for perceived authority and submission to people in perceived authority as they see them as superior
-indiv. perceived as low status and direct anger towards them as they view them as inferior
-The authoritarian personality was assessed using the F-Scale questionnaire by Adorno on a sample of over 2000 American participants
-Those who scored highly on the questionnaire had the authoritarian personality and displayed the characteristics described above

45
Q

Dispositional Explanation of Obedience to Authority AO3 RTS

A

-Milgram & Elms
-interviewed ppts who had taken part in Milgram’s experiment and asked them to complete the F scale questionnaire to measure their levels of authoritarianism
-higher levels of authoritarianism among those participants classified as obedient (who gave electric shocks to 450V) compared with those classified as defiant
-Therefore, suggesting that the authoritarian personality is associated with obedience
-Supporting the dispositional explanation of authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience

46
Q

Dispositional Explanation of Obedience to Authority AO3 limitation to being an questionnaire

A

-research conducted by Adorno criticised for social desirability
-ppts may have lied on the F scale questionnaire to present themselves in the best possible light
-e.g. by trying to minimise any fascist views
-Therefore, Adorno may not be measuring what he set out to measure e.g. the authoritarian personality
-reduces the internal validity

47
Q

Dispositional Explanation of Obedience to Authority AO3 RTS limitation 2

A

-criticised for being a limited explanation
-as it is difficult to use personality as an expl. for obedience in the majority of a country’s population
-e.g. in pre-war Germany, millions of indiv. displayed obedient, racist and anti-Semitic behaviour
-It is likely that all of these indiv. would have differed somewhat in their personalities and very unlikely that they all possessed an authoritarian personality
-thus casting doubt on the authoritarian (dispositional) explanation of obedience

48
Q

Explanations of resistance to social influence

A

Social support
Locus of control

49
Q

Social support AO1

A

-People can resist pressures to conform or obey when they receive social support
-This is because having an ally gives us confidence and support making it possible to resist the pressures to conform/obey
-and remain independent in our behaviour
-Indiv. who have support for their point of view no longer fear being ridiculed
-allowing them to avoid normative social influence

50
Q

Social support AO3 RTS for conformity

A

-Asch
-In Asch’s original conformity study the confederates all gave the same wrong answer and conformity was 37%
-However, when Asch varied his study and had one confederate give the correct answers throughout the research conformity dropped to 5.5%
-Therefore, suggests as the confederate provided the real ppts with social support, it gave them confidence to remain independent and resist the pressure to conform

51
Q

Social support AO3 RTS-Milgram

A

-Milgram
-in one of the variations of Milgram’s study, the real ppt was paired with two additional confederates (who also played the role of teachers)
-The two additional confederates refused to go on and withdrew from the experiment early
-In this variation, the ppt who proceeded to the full 450V dropped to 10% (from 65% in the original)
-Therefore, this shows that if the real ppt has support they are more likely to resist obedience to the authority figure

52
Q

Locus of control AO1

A

-LOC is a personality trait which refers to a person’s perception of personal control over their behaviour
-scale of LOC with internal at one end and external at the other

53
Q

Internal and External LOC

A

Internal LOC:
-believe they control what happens to them and their behaviour is caused by their own personal decisions and effort
-Indiv. with a strong internal LOC are more likely to remain independent in their behaviour and rely less on the opinions of others
-which means they are better able to resist social influence
WHEREAS
External LOC: Those with an external LOC believe that what happens to them is determined by external factors such as luck or fate
-Indiv. with an external locus take less personal responsibility for their actions and are less likely to remain independent in their behaviour so are less able resist social influence

54
Q

Locus of control AO3 RTS for obedience

A

-Milgram & Elms
-They interviewed Milgram’s original ppts and found that those who had an internal LOC were significantly more likely to refuse to continue giving shocks, whereas those with an external locus of control were more likely to be within the 65% that gave the full 450v
-those with an internal locus of control were more likely to resist obedience and remain independent in their behaviour
-therefore supporting….

55
Q

Locus of control AO3 RTS-spector

A

-Spector
-measured LOC and predisposition to NSI and ISI in students
-Spector found that students with an external LOC were more likely to conform to NSI than those with an internal LOC
-However, there was no difference between the two groups for situations of ISI
-This supports the idea that individuals with an internal LOC are more likely to resist social influence in certain situations

56
Q

Minority influence definition

A

-a form of social influence where members of the majority group change their beliefs/behaviours because of the minority influencing their decision
-this usually leads to internalisation
-The minority must be consistent, show commitment and be flexible in their behaviour

57
Q

3 features necessary for minority influence

A

-consistency
-commitment
-flexibility

58
Q

Consistency AO1

A

-If the minority keep repeating the same beliefs to the majority, both over time (diachronic synchrony)
-between all individuals that form the minority (synchronic consistency)
-the majority then reassess the situation and consider the minority idea more carefully

59
Q

Commitment AO1

A

-This suggests the minority must show dedication and make personal sacrifices when facing a majority.
-Some minorities engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to their views
-If these activities present some risk to the minority, this shows greater commitment.
-Majority groups may then pay even more attention = the augmentation principle.

60
Q

Flexibility AO1

A

-too much consistency can be seen as dogmatic and rigid and may stop the majority moving over to the minority viewpoint
-Members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable counter-arguments
-The key is to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility

61
Q

Minority influence AO3 RTS

A

-Moscovici et al
-Two confederates sat with a majority group of six ppt, they were shown blue slides that differed in intensity and had to state the colour
-When the minority consistently called the blue slides green, ppts gave the same wrong answer 8% of the time; however when the minority group inconsistently called the blue slides green, agreement fell to 1%
-This supports the notion that consistency is important when a minority is influencing a majority

62
Q

Minority influence AO3 RTS limitation

A

-lacks mundane realism
-used an unrealistic task of stating the colour of a slide
-Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings to explain how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life social situations where the outcomes are more important
-for example if a jury is deciding on a verdict
-Thus, lowering the external validity of the research into minority influence

63
Q

Minority influence AO3 real life evidence

A

-There is real life evidence to support how a minority can influence a majority using consistency, commitment and flexibility
-from the suffragette movement
-The women showed consistency by having the same belief that women should have equal rights between all members, over a long period of time
-They showed dedication by going on hunger strike and they were flexible as they accepted women having a vote at the age of 30 (men were 21) and then continued to campaign, finally winning the right for women to vote
-Thus showing how a minority can influence a majority in the real world

64
Q

Social change definition

A

-change in attitudes, behaviours or laws
-on a large scale, how societies (social norms) have changed
-A historical example of Social change is the increased rights for women
-The suffragette movement in the UK won the campaign for women’s right to vote in the 1920’s

65
Q

Social change process

A

-When a minority has an idea, they must remain consistent by having the same belief between members of the group, over a long period of time
-They must also show commitment by showing dedication and making personal sacrifice
-However, the minority also must be flexible and not completely rigid, by showing compromise if they want to change the majority opinion
-If the minority remain consistent, committed and are flexible they can change the beliefs of the majority publicly and privately
-Once a few members of the majority start to move towards the minority, the influence of the minority begins to gather momentum as more people pay attention until eventually the minority idea eventually becomes a majority idea = Snowball effect
-When the majority remembers the minority idea, but not that the idea came from the minority group, the two become separated = Social crypto-amnesia
-Social change has occurred, where there is a change in society’s attitudes, behaviours and laws

66
Q

Social change AO3 limitation

A

-some critics argue that social change through minority influence may be limited as social change does not occur quickly
-This is because there is a tendency for human beings to conform to the majority position and maintain status quo, rather than engage in social change
-Therefore, this suggests that a minority often creates the potential for social change, rather than a social change itself

67
Q

Social change AO3 limitation

A

-Critics also argue that social change through minority influence may be limited as they can be seen as ‘deviant’ in the eyes of the majority
-Therefore, the majority may not want to change their views to be in line with them as they may be seen as deviant themselves
-Moreover, the message from the minority may then be forgotten whilst people focus on the ‘deviant’ behaviour instead
-Thus limiting minority influence as a social influence process in social change

68
Q

Social change AO3 real life support

A

-There is real life evidence to support the role of minority influence in social influence processes in social change from the suffragette movement
-The minority group of women showed consistency by having the same belief that women should have equal rights between all members, over a long period of time
-They showed dedication by going on hunger strike and they were flexible as they accepted women having a vote at the age of 30 (men were 21) and then continued to campaign
-The majority internalised the idea that women should have equal rights and now society’s attitudes, behaviours and laws have changed
-thus demonstrating the role of social influence process in social change in the real world