Role of Social Influence Processes in Social Change (OCR A-Level Psychology): Revision Notes
1.4.2 Role of Social Influence Processes in Social Change
Social influence processes are strategies that can cause social change.
These strategies include utilising minority influence, encouraging an internal locus of control and disobedience to authority
Social change:
When there is a shift in the beliefs or behaviour of an entire population, and the previously widely accepted norm changes to something new.
E.g., Smoking, racism, suffragettes, climate change
- Minority influence is the main cause of social change. The minority group manages to persuade the majority to adopt their point of view by being consistent, committed and flexible.
- However, the minority must have an internal locus of control to resist compliance, while also being able to disobey authority to convey their point to the majority
- The importance of consistency, flexibility and commitment was demonstrated by Moscovici.
- When the minority begins to be successful in their attempts to influence the majority, it triggers a snowball effect as the new idea spreads over time in the majority, to eventually be adopted as the majority opinion. Those who refuse to be influenced by the new idea will eventually be forced to comply by the majority.
Augmentation principle:
The minority must be willing to suffer for their cause
Example: The Black Lives Matter movement
Issue = systemic (widespread - part of the system) racism and police brutality towards black people
BLM - an international human rights movement that campaigns against violent systemic racism towards black people
- Drawing attention to the issue
- Cognitive conflict - by creating a conflict between what majority group members believe and a position advocated by the minority, majority group members are forced to think more deeply about the issue being challenged
- Consistency of position - minorities tend to be more influential in bringing social change when they express their arguments consistently
- The augmentation principle - a minority needs to appear willing to suffer for their views to demonstrate commitment, in order to be taken seriously by others
- The snowball effect - minority influence initially has a relatively small effect - but this spreads more widely as more people consider the issues being addressed. Then the minority becomes the majority, leading to widespread social change
Recycling: Minority influence can be a main cause of social change. For example, a minority group has managed to persuade the majority to adopt recycling habits by being consistent, committed and flexible, due to informational social influence as demonstrated by Moscovici. Despite people not recycling much in the past, when a minority gradually became successful at influencing the majority to recycle, perhaps due to having an internal locus of control, it triggered a snowball effect as the new idea spread over time to eventually become the majority opinion. As the importance of recycling is now a majority view, more people have begun to conform and start recycling due to normative social influence which leads to compliance.
