minority influence and social change Flashcards
(24 cards)
what is minority influence
when members of a majority group are converted to the views of a minority group
what affects minority influence
they can be affected by consistency, commitment and flexibility
what is consistency
if members of the minority repeat the same message over time and all group members give the same message, members of the majority group are more likely to consider the minority position and reconsider their own
whats the difference between diachronic and synchronic consistency
diachronic consistency - they repeat the same message over time
synchronic consistency - all group members give the same message
what is commitment
if the members of the minority are willing to suffer for their views but still hold them, members of the majority will take the minority and their ideas seriously as people consider the causes of behaviour. if the majority members know the minority is not acting out of self interest they carefully consider their position
what is attribution theory
it describes the processes people use to assign motives to behaviour both their own and others.
what did Kelley outline
the augmentation principle
what is the augmentation principle
it suggests if someone performs an action despite costs and risks, the underlying motive or attribute driving that action is considered particularly strong
what is flexibility
if seen as dogmatic, minorities will not be persuasive. they need the ability to appear to consider valid counterarguments and show they are reasonable by slightly compromising. this flexibility encourages majority members to move closer to the minority position
why is a balance of flexibility and consistency needed
to appear reasonable and open minded as well as having a clear thought through and stable opinion
what is snowball effect
minorities changing majority opinions starts off as a slow process as each person only converts a few members of the majority. however, this rate of conversion picks up speed as more of the majority convert. additionally, the process of conversion also speeds up as the minority view improves in its acceptability
give a strength/weakness of the explanations of minority influence
consistency has been shown to help minorities influence members of the majority. Moscovici (1969) displayed 36 blue slides of different shades to groups of four real participants and two confederates. if the confederate minority consistently claimed that every slide was green, participants agreed on 8% of trials but only on 1% of trials when the minority was inconsistent. however, even in the consistent condition, 68% of participants never conformed to the minority. this may mean that few people are receptive to the influence of a consistent minority group
what is another strength of the explanations of minority influence
flexibility has been shown to help minorities influence members of the majority. Nemeth (1987) asked 3 real participants and one confederate to act as a mock jury and decide on the level of compensation for the victim of an (imaginary) serious ski lift accident. when the confederate was inflexible, arguing for a low level of compensation and not changing positions during negotiation they were less able to convince members of the majority to lower their offers, than when they showed flexibility by increasing their offer during the negotiation
what is a weakness of the explanations of minority influence
lab based studies on factors affecting minority influence such as Moscovici and Nemeth are highly artifical and may not be valid when generalised to real world minority influence. in real life those trying to convince us are often friends and family and the topics are likely to be importnat social issues not meaningless tasks like stating the colour of the slide
what is a strength to the explanations of MI
there are many real life examples of minority groups using commitmenet, flexibility and consistency to influence members of the majority population. for e.g the suffragettes showed commitment by going on hunger strike and leaders of the civil rights movement delivered speeches with a consistent message of equality. the lessons from these previous campaigns and psychological theory can be practically applied to future movements
what is social change
when a view held by a minority group challenges the majority view and is eventually accepted by the majority. then, whole societies (not just individuals) adopt new attitudes, beliefs or behaviours
when are minority groups more successful in creating social change
when they show consistency, commitment and flexibility in their views. gradually the minority turns into the majority due to the snowball effect
how does obedience link to social change
members of the government are a minority group that can enact dramatic social change by creating laws. when laws are created societies change to avoid punishment
how does normative social influence/compliance link to social change
behaviours or views can become the norm within a minority group such as recyling, vaping or fitness in young people - those who go against this norm risk rejection. this norm can spread to broader society
how does informational social influence/internalisation link to social change
members of a minority group can provide information to the majority such as the effects of climate change. wider society changes its behaviours because it accepts this new evidence
what is social crypto amnesia
it describes how society adopts ideas from a minority group however once the mainstream accepts these ideas and they become the norm, the sacrifices made by the minority group in initating these positive social changes arent acknowledged but forgotten over time
social change strength 1
leaders and activists in the civil rights movements in the US demonstrated consistency and commitment in their fight against racial segregation and for equality. they presented a consistently unified front through non violent protests, sit ins and marches. in many cases they suffered abuse at the hands of law enforcement. these commited actions led to many white americans to consider their beliefs on segregation and ultimately has lef to significant social change, including the passing of the Civil RIghts and Voting Rights Act
social change strength 2
social influence research has practical applications such as helping governments understand how to change peoples behaviour for e.g. persuading people to eat healthily or to take sensible social distancing precautions during a pandemic. in these cases, understanding social change can help the economy by reducing societys healthcare costs
weakness of social change
social change often occurs extended periods, deals with highly sensitive topics such as inequality, discrimination ot social unrest and is the sum of the interactions of millions of members of society. for this reason highly controlled experimental lab research on social change isnt possible meaning clear cause and effect relationships cant be established. instead researchers depend on natural experiments, case studies and correlational studies to understand social change
