process of social change Flashcards
(17 cards)
define social influence?
the process individuals and groups go through to change each other’s attitudes and behaviours
define social change?
whole societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs and behaviours- they become the new norm
it occurs over a long period of time and often with some resistance
NOT just minority influence
what are the processes of minority influence in social change?
- Attention is drawn to the issue using social proof
- Consistency, flexibility and commitment
- augmentation principle (to show commitment)
- internalisation/ deeper processing of the issue
- the snowball effect
- social cryptoamnesia
what is meant by the snowball effect?
the point at which a viewpoint goes from being the minority view point, once conversion is going at a faster rate, to being the majority viewpoint- SOCIAL CHANGE HAS OCCURRED
after social change has occured and the minority becomes the majority view and a new norm is established, what happens?
social cryptoamnesia
what is social cryptoamnesia?
people remember that change has occurred but do not remember how it happened or why people had the original view.
why does conformity/ obedience used in social change have to happen after minority influence?
in order for a viewpoint to be influenced by conformity or obedience, it has to be of the majority
how does NSI have a role in social change?
helps the snowball effect- as the new norm is developed it becomes something that is desirable
then leads people to convert to the new viewpoint as they want to be liked or approved of
how does ISI play a role in social change?
part of the minority influence process is to draw attention to a social/moral injustice
people have information to change to new viewpoint as they believe it to be the correct viewpoint
how did Zimbardo argue that obedience can be used in social change?
through gradual commitment- obey one small instruction then it is harder to resist bigger ones and we drift into new behaviour
when does obedience mostly come into play for social change?
once a degree of social change has already occurred and new laws/ rules are introduced as a result
give an example of how obedience helps social change?
the rule that required businesses to charge customers for single-use plastic bags required people to be more obedient and made it significantly more difficult to not be part of the social change
what is supporting evidence to show conformity being involved in social change?
Nolan et al hung messages on houses everyday for a month
experimental group messages focused on how all residents were trying to reduce energy usage
control group just asked to reduce their energy usage (no ref to other people)
found significant decrease in energy usage in the experimental group
shows importance of NSI in social change
why is it almost impossible to measure effect of minority influence?
the role of minority influence in social change may be overstated- they often have a very indirect and delayed reaction
cannot study cause and effect due to delay, and it is indirect because the majority is only influenced by the most pressing part of the topic not the whole
what is there disagreement about for processes of social change?
disagreement about whether minority influence or majority influence causes deeper processing
Moscovici argued it is MI but Mackie argues that it’s only when the minority becomes the majority that we see social change- so we don’t know importance of minority
Mackie says we consider the arguments of majority more because we like to think the majority agree with our beliefs, and it causes self-refelction when they don’t.
how is disagreement about deeper processing a limitation?
casts doubt on validity of Moscovici’s minority influence and whole theory as a whole is conflicted
what counter paragraph could we fall back on when evaluating processes of social change?
limitation; artificial research studies about the SI processes involved in social change
counter: can be a strength
