SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Question 1

Define social change

Answer 1

• where a whole society adopts a new behaviour which becomes “the norm”
• usually brings a conflict with those in authority
• starts with a minority trying to win over the majority

Question 2

Outline the 6 stages of social processing

Answer 2

1. Drawing attention - to the problem.
2. Consistency - the message never changes
3. Deeper processing - cognitive conflict occurs, people think about the issue
4. Augmentation principle - people begin to pay attention
5. Snowball effect - more people pay attention and believe in the message
6. Social cryptoamnesia - people know change has happened, but don’t remember how

Question 3

Outline a strength of the social change theory
- Nolan, research support

Answer 3

• Nolan et al implemented social life in a real life situation
• when one group was told that others were reducing energy use, they did the same
• compared to the control group who weren’t told about what other residents were doing
• strength, shows that conformity leads to social change

Question 4

Outline a limitation of social change theory
- Mackie, deeper processing

Answer 4

• central idea about minority influence is that it evokes deeper processing
• Mackie disagreed with Moscovici’s idea that minority and majority influence involve different processes
• instead, majority influence creates deeper processing if you do not share their views
• questions validity of Moscovici’s theory

Question 5

Outline a limitation of minority influence causing social change
- Bashir, stereotypes/barriers

Answer 5

• Nadia Bashir et al found that people behave in certain ways to avoid being associated with the minority groups
• Ex. Less environmentally friendly to avoid being seen as an environmentalist
• they did not want to be perceived in the negative stereotype
• weakens minority influence causing social change, as people care about how they are perceived by the majority

Question 6

Outline a limitation of research into social change
- artificial tasks

Answer 6

• Ex. Moscovici’s colour task is highly artificial
• different to how minorities initiate change in real life
• outcomes in real life often have drastic outcomes
• findings of these studies lacks external validity

Question 7

Outline a strength of social change theory
- case studies

Answer 7

• during the African American civil rights movement
• minority drew attention to the view and remained consistent in their beliefs regarding the ban of racial segregation
• overtime led to a change in the majority’s opinion
• led to social change

Question 8

How does obedience lead to social change, using Zimbardo’s findings

Answer 8

• if laws are created, people obey to avoid punishment
• Zimbardo found that once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes harder to resist a bigger one, leading to a new type of behaviour

Question 9

How does conformity lead to social change
- health campaigns

Answer 9

• when a dissenter breaks the majority’s power (e.g. Asch unanimity experiment), others are encouraged to dissent
• health campaigns use NSI as a tactic
• “young people don’t smoke” shows what others are doing, drawing attention to what the majority are doing