Social Influence Processes in Social Change

Question 1

What is social change and why does it occur?

Answer 1

Social change occurs when whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs, and ways of doing things.

Social change can lead to both positive and negative change.

Question 2

What are the three different social influence processes?

Answer 2

• Conformity/Majority influence
• Minority influence
• Obedience

Question 3

Outline social change through minority influence

Answer 3

There are six steps:
1.) Drawing attention to the majority through social proof
- Exposure to the views of a minority draws our attention to it
- Different views cause a conflict which we want to reduce

2.) Consistency over time and with each other
- More influential if they are consistent
- Express their arguments consistently and over time and across each other
- Taken more seriously as they are seen to truly believe in the cause

3.) Deeper processing (cognitive conflict)
- Force people to think about the alternative view = deeper consideration of minority’s viewpoint = creating cognitive conflict
- Think about the issue at a deeper level
- Unjustness of such issues due to there being a cognitive conflict because of inconsistent thoughts

4.) The augmentation principle
- If there are risks involved in putting forward an argument (i.e. if the person is willing to suffer for their cause), then those who express such views are taken more seriously
- Creates a larger impact

5.) The snowball effect
- Minority influence changes to majority influence as more people join the cause

6.) Social cryptomnesia
- Change has occurred but it is so normalised within society that we forget how it happened, or what people went through for the change to occur

Question 4

Outline social change through majority influence (conformity)

Answer 4

Normative social influence - people tend to adopt views and behaviours which they believe are ‘normal’

People want to fit in and they fear rejection

“Most people” act in a certain way so certain behaviours are encouraged or discouraged by this

Question 5

Outline social change through obedience

Answer 5

People fear punishment and generally obey the laws of society

Most people refrain from illegal behaviour in order to stay out of trouble

Question 6

What is one strength of social influence processes in social change?

Answer 6

P: Supporting research evidence for the role of normative social influence in social change.
Ev: Nolan, California, different messages about reducing energy usage hung on the doors of homes
- Group A signs suggested other people in the neighbourhood were trying to use less energy.
- Group B signs just requested that less energy was used
Group A significantly reduced their energy usage compared with Group B.
Ex: Suggests that conformity and social norms interventions create social change of views and behaviours as people change their behaviour in order to be liked and fit in with their peers (neighbours)
L: Adds validity that normative social influence can lead to social change at a societal level

Question 7

What are two/three limitations of social influences processes in social change?

Answer 7

P: However, research suggests that social norms interventions may lead to a ‘boomerang effect’
Ev: Schultz argued that the energy campaign messages reduced energy usage in homes with high usage but caused those with low usage to use more
Ex: Social norms intervention campaigns usually aimed at people whose behaviour we want to change but those who are already using less energy feel unappreciated and not recognised, causing the opposite effect than intended.
L: Therefore the use of normative social influence in the form of social norms interventions may not always be effective at creating the desired social change

P: It may not be easy to inspire social change even when we understand that it is necessary.
Ev: Bashir found participants were less likely to be environmentally friendly to avoid being associated with the stereotype and minority of “environmentalists.” They rated environmental activists and feminists in negative ways, calling them names like “tree huggers” or “man haters.”
Ex: This suggests that we really do care about what others think about us and will conform to the majority in order to be liked (NSI) because if we convert to the minority we will be called names and outcasted
L: Increases the validity of social processes in social change

P: All social influence research suffers from a lack of realism.
Ev: For example, research by Asch, Milgram, Moscovici, and Nemeth which have all demonstrated a relationship between social influence processes and social change were all set in highly controlled laboratory environments and used bizarre tasks
Ex: This is a problem because studies in laboratory experiments mean the environments are artificial which causes a lack of mundane realism. This causes the external validity of the experiments to decrease, meaning that it is difficult to generalise the findings to real life
L: Therefore, the conclusions drawn about social change from these studies must be taken with caution and perhaps more realistic research is necessary to truly understand social processes in social change in the real world