Social Influence Flashcards
(139 cards)
1
Q
Definition of Conformity
A
A change in person’s behaviour as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people.
2
Q
Definition of Compliance
A
A type of conformity that involves ‘going along with others’, but not privately changing personal opinions/behaviour
3
Q
Definition of Internalisation
A
A type of conformity that occurs when people genuinely accept group norms, leading to a private and public change of opinion/behaviour
4
Q
Definition of Identification
A
A type of conformity that involves conforming to the opinions/behaviour of a group because there is something we value about the group
5
Q
What are the Two Explanations for Conformity?
A
ISI and NSI
6
Q
Who Proposed the Explanations for Conformity?
A
Deutsch and Gerard
7
Q
What is ISI?
A
Informational Social Influence - need to be right
8
Q
What is NSI?
A
Normative Social Influence - need to be liked
9
Q
Types and Explanations for Conformity A03 - Research Support for ISI - 4 Points
A
- Lucas et al - asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult
- There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier
- Mostly true for students who rated their mathematical ability as poor
- Shows that people conform in situations where they feel they don’t know the answer
10
Q
Types and Explanations for Conformity A03 - Individual Differences in NSI - 4 Points
A
- Some research shows that NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour the same way
- Eg. People who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI than those who care about being liked
- McGhee and Teevan - found students high in need of affiliation are more likely to conform
- Shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others
11
Q
What are nAffiliators?
A
Someone who have a greater needed for affiliation (being in relationship with others)
12
Q
Types and Explanations for Conformity A03 - ISI and NSI Work Together
A
Behaviour is more likely due to both NSI and ISI than just the one
13
Q
Types and Explanations for Conformity A03 - Individual Differences in ISI - 3 Points
A
- ISI doesn’t affect everyone’s behaviour the same way
- Asch - found that students were less conformist than other participants
- Perrin and Spencer - conducted a study involving science and engineering students and found very little conformity
14
Q
Types and Explanations for Conformity A03 - Research Support for NSI - 3 Points
A
- Asch - found many people simply went with the clear wrong answer just because others did
- Some said they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and were afraid of disapproval
- When Asch repeated this study, but asked the participants to write their answers instead of saying them out loud, conformity rates fell to 12.5%
15
Q
What was Asch’s Baseline Procedure? - 2 Points
A
- 123 male participants judging line length
- Confederates gave wrong answers
16
Q
What were Asch’s Baseline Findings? - 2 Points
A
- Naive participants conformed on 36.8% of trials
- 25% never conformed
17
Q
What were the 3 Variations of Asch’s Baseline Experiment?
A
Group Size
Unanimity
Task Difficulty
18
Q
Outline the Group Size Variation of Asch’s Baseline? - 2 Points
A
- Varied group size from 2 confederates to 16
- Conformity increased when up to 3 confederates were added, then levelled off
19
Q
Outline the Unanimity Variation of Asch’s Baseline? - 2 Points
A
- Placed a dissenter in the group who gave a different answer to the rest of the group
- Conformity rate reduced
20
Q
Outline the Task Difficulty Variation of Asch’s Baseline? - 2 Points
A
- Made the line lengths more similar
- Conformity increased when task was harder
21
Q
Asch A03 - Lack of Temporal Validity - 5 Points
A
- Perrin and Spencer - replicated Asch’s study with engineering students in the UK, and found that only one student conformed in a total of 396 trials
- It may be engineering students felt more confident about measuring lines than the original sample, and were less conformist
- It is possible that at the time the research was originally conducted in American, it was particularly conformist
- Society has changed since Asch’s research took place on the 1950s, so society may be less conformist
- Not consistent across time periods and different situations, so it is not a fundamental feature of human behaviour
22
Q
Asch A03 - Artificial Situation and Task - 5 Points
A
- Participants may have been influenced by demand characteristics
- The task of identifying lines was pretty trivial, so there was no real reason not to conform
- Though participants were in a group, it is unlike those we are part of in our everyday lives so many not give a genuine picture of true human behaviour
- Fiske - “Asch’s groups are not very group”
- Findings may not generalise to everyday situations, especially when the consequences of conformity might be more important.
22
Q
Asch A03 - Limited Application of Findings - 3 Points
A
- Asch only tested men, but other research suggests women may be more likely to conform, as they are likely to be more concerned about social relationships and gaining acceptance/approval than men
- The men in Asch’s research were all American, and some studies conducted in collectivist cultures have higher conformity rates
- Conformity levels may therefore sometimes be even higher than Asch found - his findings may only apply to American men
23
Q
Asch A03 - Findings Only Apply in Certain Situations - 3 Points
A
- Participants had to answer out loud and were with a group go strangers, who they wanted to impress
- Soon - found conformity to be higher when the majority of the group were friends
- Conformity may change between situations, but Asch’s findings are limited to one specific situation
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Asch A03 - Ethical Issues - 3 Points
- The naive participants were deceived because they believed the other people in the study were also genuine participants too
- However, sometimes the drawbacks of unethical research can be outweigh by the benefits/knowledge we gain from the findings
- Asch's research could have had detrimental effects on the participants, as it violated the BPS's ethical guidelines
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Definition of Social Roles
The parts people play in various social groups
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Zimbardo's SPE - Aim
Wanted to investigate whether the prison guards were behaving brutally because of their disposition or whether the social role and situation they were in created this behaviour
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Zimbardo's SPE- Procedure - 4 Points
- Participants were randomly assigned the role of guard or prisoner
- Prisoners were assigned an ID number, stripped and hosed down upon arrival
- Guard were given free-reign on how they could enforce the 16 rules, but they could not use phsyical violence
- Due to last 14 days
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Zimbardo's SPE - How Many Participants were Involved?
24 male students
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Zimbardo's SPE - How were the Prisoners Punished When They Misbehaved?
Verbally insulted them or made them do menial psychical exercise
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Zimbardo's SPE - What Happened to Prisoner 8612?
Had to leave after a day because he was showing signs of severe emotional distress
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Zimbardo's SPE - Conclusion - 3 Points
- Situational factors have a larger effect on social conformity
- People will readily conform to social roles they are expected to play, especially when the role is as heavily stereotyped as a prison guard's.
- The prison environment was an important factor in creating guard's brutal behaviour
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Zimbardo's SPE - What Fraction of Guards were Brutal?
1/3
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Zimbardo's SPE - What Fraction of Guards were Fair?
1/3
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Zimbardo's SPE - What Fraction of Guards were Kind?
1/3
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Zimbardo's SPE - What % of the Prisoner's Conversations Show and What Does this Show?
- 90%
- Shows the prisoners felt it real
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Zimbardo's SPE A03 - High Levels of Control - 2 Points
- By randomly assigning participants role of prisoner or guard, it helped to rule out possibility that findings were due to dispositional differences
- High control increases internal validity
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Zimbardo's SPE A03 - Lack of Realism - 5 Points
- Banuazzi and Mohave - suggested participants were 'play acting' on the basis of stereotypes rather than conforming to their role
- One guard said he based his behaviour on a character
- Conversations between participants were mostly about prison about life
- One participant said they believed it was a real prison, but run by psychologists instead of the state
- It seemed real to participants
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Zimbardo's SPE A03 - Role of Disposition - 2 Points
- Fromm - suggested Zimbardo over-exaggerated the power of the situation, minimising the role of personality
- Findings about behaviour directed to prisoners suggested otherwise
39
Zimbardo's SPE A03 - Lack of Research Support - 3 Points
- Reicher and Haslam - partially replicated the SPE but had very different results
- Prisoners eventually took control, subjecting the guards to harassment/disobedience
- Explained with SIT - guards did not form shared social identity, but prisoners actively identified with one another and did not accept the limits of their assigned role of prisoners
40
Zimbardo's SPE A03 - Ethical Issues - 3 Points
- Zimbardo's dual role was highly unethical
- One participant wanted to leave
- Zimbardo conducted the conservation like he was a superintendent rather than a researcher with responsibility
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Zimbardo's SPE - What was Zimbardo's Dual Role?
Superintendent and Head Researcher
42
Definition of Obedience
A form of social influence in which a person follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually an authority figure.
43
Milgram's Study - Why Did He Want to Study Obedience?
The holocaust
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Milgram's Study - The Participants - 4 Points
- 40 males
- 20-50 years old
- Volunteers from a newspaper advert
- Paid $4.50
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Milgram's Study - What Happened at the Beginning of the Experiment - 4 Points
- Participant and 'victim' actor met (participant thought victim was just another participant).
- Drew names from hat to determine who is teacher/learner (rigged so participant always teacher).
- Taken to room where learner strapped to electric chair and an electrode was strapped to their wrist.
- Teacher was given a sample shock of 45 v to prove it was real
46
Milgram's Study - Learning Task - 3 Points
- Lesson administered by the teacher
- Consisted of a word-pair task in which the teacher listed a series of word pairs to the learner and then read the first word of the pair along with four terms
- Learner was to indicate which of the four terms had originally been paired with the first word by pressing one of four buttons.
47
Milgram's Study - The Shock Generator - 3 Points
- 30 switches
- 15 volt increments
- 15-450 volts
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Milgram's Study - What was the Teacher Told to Do? - 2 Points
- Teacher instructed to administer shock every time a question was answered wrongly
- Told to move one level higher on shock generator each time the learner flashed a wrong answer.
49
Milgram's Study - What Did the Learner Do at Certain Increments?
- At 300 volts, learner kicked the wall
- After that, learner gave no answer to next word-pair
- At 315 volts, learner kicked wall again
- After that, learner gave no further feedback
50
Milgram's Study - Predicted Results - 2 Points
- 14 psychology students at Yale University were provided with a detailed description of the experiment and asked to predict the results.
- They said only an insignificant minority would go through to the end of the shock series.
51
Milgram's Study - Actual Results - 3 Points
- All participants continued past the 300 volt shock level
- 26/40 obeyed orders all the way to 450 volts.
- During the experiment, participants did show signs of extreme tension
52
Milgram's Study - Conclusion
People are extremely likely to obey orders if an authority figure is giving them
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Milgram's Study A03 - Low Internal Validity - 4 Points
- Orne and Holland - suggested participants worked out the shock were fake
- Supported by Perry - listened to tapes of Milgram's work and reported that many expressed doubts about how real the shocks were
- Sheridan and King - conducted a similar study where the subject of real shocks to a puppy
- 34% men 100% of women delivered a shock that they thought was fatal
54
Milgram's Study A03 - Good External Validity - 2 Points
- Relationship between experimenter and participant seems to relatively accurately reflect authority relationships in real life
- Supported by Hofling's research - 21/22 of nurses set to obey orders to I've double the maximum dosage of a medicine when instructed to do so by a doctor
55
Milgram's Study A03 - Supporting Replication - 2 Points
- Experiment replicated on French reality TV in front of studio audience
- 80% delivered maximum shocks to an apparently unconscious man and their behaviour was similar to that of Milgram's participants
56
Milgram's Study A03 - Alternative Explanation - 3 Points
- Participants identified with experiment because they identified with the science of the study
- When obedience fell, this was because they started to identify more with the victim
- Haslam and Reicher - found when prods that appealed for help with science were used, participants always quit when they heard the fourth prod, which simply demanded obedience
57
Milgram Situational Variables - What were the 3 Situational Variables?
Location
Proximity
Uniform
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Milgram Situational Variables - What were the 3 Proximity Variations?
Same rooms
Forced hand on plate
Over the phone
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Milgram Situational Variables - What was the % of Obedience in the 'Same Room' Proximity Variation?
40%
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Milgram Situational Variables - What was the % of Obedience in the 'Forced Hand on Plate' Proximity Variation?
30%
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Milgram Situational Variables - What was the % of Obedience in the 'Over the Phone' Proximity Variation?
20.5%
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Milgram Situational Variables - What was the Location Variation?
Study took place in a run down building
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Milgram Situational Variables - What was the % of Obedience in the Location Variation?
47.5%
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Milgram Situational Variables - What was the Uniform Variation?
Experimenter was called away and replaced by a member of the public (confederate) in plain clothes
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Milgram Situational Variables - What was the % of Obedience in the Uniform Variation?
20%
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Milgram Situational Variables A03 - Research Support - 3 Points
- Bickman - three confederates dressed in either a suit and tie, a milkman's outfit or a security guard's uniform
- Asked passersby to do tasks like pick up litter or give them a coin for the parking meter
- Twice as likely to obey the security guard than man in suit and tie
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Milgram Situational Variables A03 - Lack of Internal Validity - 3 Points
- Orne and Holland criticised Milgram as they said the participants worked out the producer was faked (demand characteristics)
- More likely this happened when there was extra manipulation (e.g situational variables)
- Milgram recognised that some participants may have worked out the truth
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Milgram Situational Variables A03 - Cross-Cultural Replications - 2 Points
- Miranda et al - replicated Milgram and found obedience rates of less than 90% among Spanish students
- Bond and Smith point out most replications taken place in Western developed societies that are not that culturally different from the USA
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Milgram Situational Variables A03 - Control of Variables - 2 Points
- Milgram systematically altered one variable at a time to see the effect on obedience
- All other procedures were kept the same as the study was replicated multiple times with 1000 participants in total
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Milgram Situational Variables A03 - The Obedience Alibi - 3 Points
- Milgram's findings from his variations support a situational explanation of obedience
- Mandel criticises this perspective, saying it offers an excuse for evil behaviour
- He says it is insensitive and offensive to suggest to Holocaust survivors that the Nazis were simply following orders and were victims of situational factors out of their control
71
Definition of Agent State
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting of an authority figure
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What is Moral Strain?
High levels of anxiety that agents feel when they realise what they are doing is wrong, but feel powerless to obey
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Definition of Autonomous State
A person deciding on, directing, and taking responsibility for their own actions
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What is an Agentic Shift?
The shift from autonomy to agency
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When Does an Agentic Shift Happen?
When a person sees someone else as an authority figure because they are higher in a social hierarchy
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What are Binding Factors?
Aspects of a situation that allow a person to ignore or minimise the damaging effects of their behaviour, so reduce their moral strainE
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Legitimacy of Authority - How is Authority Defined as Legitimate?
Most agree this social power is necessary because it allows society to function strongly
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Legitimacy of Authority - How is Society Structured?
In a hierarchal way
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Legitimacy of Authority - How Do We Learn Acceptance of Authority?
Through socialisation
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Social Psychological Explanation of Obedience A03 - Research Support - 3 Points
- Blass and Schmidt - showed students a film of the milligram study and asked them who was responsible for harm to the learner
- Students blamed the experimenter
- Also indicated the responsibility was due to legitimate authority and expert authority
81
Social Psychological Explanation of Obedience A03 - Limited Explanation - 3 Points
- AS cannot explain many findings (i.e why some participants did not obey)
- Cannot explain Hofling's findings
- Would predict that the nurses should have shown high levels of anxiety as they understood their role in a destructive process but they did not
82
Social Psychological Explanation of Obedience A03 - Cultural Differences - 5 Points
- LoA is a useful account of cultural differences in obedience as many studies show there are cultural differences in the extent to which people are traditionally obedient to authority
- Kilham and Mann - replicated Milgram's procedure in Australia and found only 15% shocked to 450v
- Mandel - replicated it in Germany and found 85% shocked to 450V
- In some cultures, authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled to obedience
- Due to structure of society and how children are raised
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Social Psychological Explanation of Obedience A03 - Obedience Alibi - 3 Points
- Some behaviour of the Nazis cannot be explained by LoA and AS
- Mandel - incident with German reserve police where they shot civilians in a small town in Poland despite no direct order to do so
- Told they could be assigned other duties if they wish
84
What is the Dispositional Explanation of Obedience?
An explanation that highlights the importance of an individual's personality
85
What is an Authoritarian Personality? - 2 Points
- A personality type that Adorno believed to be higher susceptible to obeying authority
- Assumed to be submissive to those of higher states and dismissive to of their inferiors
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Adorno's Study - Procedure - 3 Points
- Investigated the causes of obedience in a study of 2,000 white, middle-class Americans
- Tested unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups with multiple scales
- One is the 'potential for fascism' scale (F-Scale), which is used to measure AP
87
Adorno's Study - Findings - 4 Points
- Those who score higher on F-scale, Identified with strong people and tended to be disrespectful to the 'weak'
- Status aware
- No grey area between categories of people
- Strong positive correlation between AP and prejudice
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AP Characteristics - 5 Points
- Extreme respect for and submissive to authority
- Dislike for those with inferior status
- Controversial attitudes towards sex, race and gender
- Believe society is being ruined, so believe we need strong, powerful leaders to enforce traditional values - love of country, religion, family
- Inflexible outlook - things are either right or wrong, and hatred for uncertainty
89
How Does the AP Develop? - 5 Points
- Formed in childhood due to harsh parenting
- Parenting often uses strict discipline, the expectation of complete loyalty, unachievably high standards, and severe criticism of perceived failing
- Parents' love is conditional
- Adorno says this creates resentment/hostility, but the child can not express this as they fear punishment/retaliation
- Leads to scapegoating - fear displaced onto those perceived to be weaker
89
Dispositional Explanation A03 - Research Support - 4 Points
- Milgram and Elms - interviewed 20 obedient participants and 20 disobedient participants from Milgram's study
- Completed several personality measures, including F-Scale, and asked open-ended questions about their relationships with their parents
- Obedient participants score higher on F-Scale and were less close to fathers during childhood
- Only correlations
90
Dispositional Explanation A03 - Limited Explanation - 2 Points
- Any explanation of obedience related to personality will struggle to explain behaviour from the majority of a country
- A more likely explanation comes from social identify theory
91
Dispositional Explanation A03 - Subject to Political Bias - 3 Points
- F-Scale measures a tendency to an extreme right-wing ideology i.e. Fascism
- Christie and Jahoda - say this is a politically biased interpretation of the AP as there are extreme left-wing groups i.e. Chinese Maoism
- Much in common between these two extreme ideologies - both emphasise the importance of complete obedience to legitimate political authority
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Dispositional Explanation A03 - Methodology Issues - 3 Points
- Greenstein - refers to F-Scale as a "comedy of methodological errors"
- Every item is worded in the same direction - high score obtainable from ticking the same box for every question
- Adorno et al - also interviewed their participants about their childhood experiences, but knew their test scores and the hypothesis of the study
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Dispositional Explanation A03 - Correlational Research - 2 Points
- Adorno et al - measured many variables and found many significant correlations
- No matter how strong a correlation is, that does not mean one causes the other
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Definition of Social Support
The presence of others who resit pressures to conform or obey who can be role models
95
Social Support and Conformity - 4 Points
- Pressure to conform reduced when there are other non-conformers present
- E.G Asch's unanimity variation
- Non-conformer acts as a role model to which allows the person to follow their own conscience
- Naive participant quickly returned to conforming when dissenter did
96
Social Support and Obedience - 3 Points
- Pressure to obey can be reduced if there is somebody else seen to disobey
- In another variation of Milgram's work, obedience dropped to 10% when the naive participant was joined by a disobedient confederate
- Disobedient person acts as a model so the participant could copy them and they are free to act from their own conscience
97
Who Proposed the LoC Explanation?
Rotter
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What do Internal LoCs Believe?
Things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves
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What do External LoCs Believe?
Things that happen to them are uncontrollable
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Who is More Likely to Resist Social Influence?
Internals
101
2 Explanations for Why Internals Are More Likely to Resist Social Influence
- If a person takes responsibility for their actions/experiences, they are more likely to base their actions on their own beliefs, and therefore resist pressure from others
- People with a high internal LoC tend to be more self-confident, achievement-oreinted, intelligent, and have less need for social approval -> greater resistant to SI
102
Social Support in Conformity A03 - Research Support - 2 Points
- Allen and Levine - found that conformity decreased when there was 1 dissenter in Asch-type study
- Occurred even when dissenter wore thick glasses and said he had difficulty with his vision so was in no position to judge the length of the lines
103
Social Support in Obedience A03 - Research Support - 3 Points
- Gamson et al - set up a situation in which participants were expected to obey what they perceived to be morally unjust demands
- Participants were in groups so could discuss the situation, giving them the confidence to disobey
- 29/33 groups rebelled against the demands
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LoC A03 - Research Support - 3 Points
- Holland - repeated Milgram's baseline study and measured whether people were internals or externals
- 37% of internals did not shock to 450V
- 23% of externals did not shock to 450V
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LoC A03 - Contradictory Research - 2 Points
- Twenge et al - meta analysis of American obedience studies over a 40 year period (1960 - 2002)
- Found that people have become more resistant to obedience but also more external
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LoC A03 - Role of LoC May be Exaggerated - 2 Points
- Rotter points out that LoC is only really likely in new situations
- Has very little influence on our behaviour in familiar situations, where we are typically guided by our past experiences
107
Definition of Minority Influence
A form of social influence where a minority persuade others to adopt their attitudes, beliefs, behaviours
108
Moscovici et al - Aim
To see if a consistent minority could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer
109
Moscovici et al - Method - 5 Points
- 172 female participants
- Groups of 6 where 2 were confederates
- Shown 36 slides of block colour, in varying shades of blue, and asked to state the colour they saw aloud
- In the consistent condition, confederates said the slides were green in 36/36 trials
- In the inconsistent condition, the condensates said the slides were green in 24/36 trials
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Moscovici et al - Results - 2 Points
- Consistent condition - real participants gave an incorrect answer on 8.2% of the trials
- Inconsistent condition - real participants gave an incorrect answer on 1.25% of the trials
111
Moscovici et al - Conclusion
A consistent minority and influence a majority
112
What are the 3 Processes of Minority Influence?
- Consistency
- Commitment
- Flexibility
113
Definition of Consistency
Having the same beliefs over time (diachronic) and between individuals (synchronic)
114
Consistency - 3 Points
- Draws attention to the minority view
- Makes people rethink their own views
- Synchronic and Diachronic consistency
115
Definition of Synchronic Consistency
Everyone who forms the minority is saying the same thing
116
Definition of Diachronic Consistency
The minority are saying the same thing over time
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Definition of Commitment
Minority show dedication to their position
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Commitment - 2 Points
- Extreme activities that present some risk to the minority
- Augmentation principle
119
Definition of Augmentation Principle
Majority group members pay more attention to the minority due to their commitment
120
Definition of Flexibility
Minority are not completely unbending, and they accept reasonable compromise
121
Flexibility - 3 Points
- Nemeth - says consistency is not the only important factor as complete consistency can be seen as rigid and dogmatic
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Process of Social Change - 3 Points
- Consistency, commitment and flexibility make people think about the topic
- Hearing new things makes people think about them, particularly when the source are consistent and passionate
- Deep processing is important in 'conversion' to a minority view
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Definition of the Snowball Effect
A quick rate of conversion in which many people covert from the majority to the minority view, which leads to social change
124
Minority Influence A03 - Research to Support Consistency - 2 Points
- Moscovici's study showed how a consistent minority had a greater effect than an inconsistent minority
- Wood et al - meta analysis of almost 100 studies showed that the most influential minorities are those that are consistent
125
Minority Influence A03 - Research to Support Depth of Thought - 2 Points
- Martin et al - found participants were more likely to persist with a viewpoint, even after hearing conflicting messages, when it is supported by a majority
- Shows the minority message has been processed more deeply and had a more enduring effect
126
Minority Influence A03 - Artificial Tasks - 2 Points
- Far removed from how minorities operate in real life, where there can be serious consequences
- Means there's a lack of external validity
127
Minority Influence A03 - Research to Support Internalisation - 2 Points
- In a Moscovici variation, participants wrote their answers instead of stating them aloud and private agreement increased
- Suggests members of majority were genuinely convinced by and internalised the minority's view but were reluctant to publicly admit it
128
Minority Influence A03 - Limited Real World Application - 2 Points
- Minorities and majorities are often clear cut in research but this is not reflective of real life
- In real life, majorities often have more power and status and minorities are very often committed to their cause, and need to be close-knit groups
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Definition of Social Change
Social change occurs when whole societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours
130
6 Steps of Social Change Driven By Minority Influence
- Drawing attention
- Consistency
- Deeper processing
- Augmentation principle
- Snowball effect
- Social cryptomnesia
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Definition of Social Cryptomnesia
People have a memory that change occurred but can't remember how it happened
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Social Change Driven By Conformity - 2 Points
- Dissent can ultimately lead to social change (Asch variation)
- Environmental and health campaigns often exploit NSI processes
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Social Change Driven By Obedience - 2 Points
- Disobedience can ultimately lead to social change (Milgram variation)
- Zimbardo suggested how obedience can create social change through gradual commitment
134
Social Change A03 - Research for Normative Influences - 4 Points
- Nolan et al - hung messages on the front doors of houses in San Diego every week for a month
- Key message was that most residents were trying to reduce their energy consumption
- As a control, some residents had a different message that just asked them to save energy, but made no reference to other people's behaviour
- Found significant decreases in energy usage in the first group, showing conformity can lead to social change through NSI
135
Social Change A03 - Minority Influence is Only Indirectly Effective - 5 Points
- Social change happens very slowly when it happens at al
- Nemeth - argues the effects of minority influence are likely to be mostly indirect and delayed
- Indirect because the majority is influenced on matters only related to the issue, rather than the social issue itself
- Delayed because effects are not seen for decades
- Shows the effects are fragile and its role in central influence is limited
136
Social Change A03 - The Role of Deeper Processing - 5 Points
- Moscovici's conversion explanation of minority influence suggests there are different cognitive processes involved in minority and majority influences
- Minority influence causes people to think more deeply about an issues than majority influence
- Mackie - disagrees and presents evidence that it is majority influence that may create deeper processing if you do not share their views
- Because we like to think other people share about views and think in the same ways as us, so when we find a majority think something different, we think long and hard abut their arguments and reasoning
- Challenges a central element of the minority influence, and the validity of Moscovici's research
137
Social Change A03 - Barriers to Social Change - 2 Points
- Bashir et al - found that participants were less likely to behave in environmentally-friendly ways because they did not want to be associated with stereotypical environmentalists
- Rate environmental activists and feminists in negative ways, describing them as 'tree-huggers' and 'man-haters'
