Considering the steps in how minority influence creates social change
E.G African American civil rights movement
Drawing attenton
Civil rights marches drew attention to
the situation providing social proof of
the problem.
Consistency
Activists represented a minority of the American
population but remained consistent
Deeper processing
Activism meant that many people began to
think deeply of the lack of justice
Augmentation principle
Personal risk showed the strong
belief and reinforced the message
Snowball effect
More and more people backed the cause when Martin
Luther King got the attention of the government.
Social cryptomnesia
People have no memory of the
events that led to the change.
Conformity
Asch highlighted the importance of the dissent in one of
his variations. Breaking the power of the majority
encourages others to do likewise.
Potential for social change
Exploiting processes appealing to NSI.
Providing information about what others are
doing, draws attention to the majority so
others will want to follow.
Obedience
Milgrams research
Demonstrates the role of a disobedient model, showing that rates of
obedience fell in the presence of a confederate teacher
Zimbardo (2007)
Suggested obedience can be used to create social change, through
gradual commitment.
Once a small instruction is obeyed, becomes
more difficult to disobey a larger one, essentially
people drift to a new kind of behaviour
Evaluation
Strengths
Research support of NSI
Nolan et al (2008) aimed to see if they could change peoples energy-use
habits. Hung messages on doors in San Diego which said that most
residents were reducing energy usage. Led to significant decrease.
Minority influence explains change
Nemeth claims social change is due to the type
of thinking that minorities inspire. The type of
thinking is more broad, called divergent
thinking where the thinker actively searches
for information. He argues that this leads to
better decisions.
Minority influence stimulates new minds and brings about new
ideas, opening minds in a way majorities cannot.
Weaknesses
Behaviour not always changed through NSI.
Foxcroft et al (2015) reviewed social norms interventions used to reduce student
alcohol use. The researchers found a small reduction in drinking quantity but no effect
in drinking frequency.
Role of deeper processing
Diane Mackie (1987) says that majority influence
causes deeper thinking if you dont share their views.
This is because we believe that other people share our
views and when it is found that a majority believes in
something we dont, it causes us to think.