Who are they?

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Who are they?
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PSYA2 Social Approach Social Change
Learning Outcomes All must apply key concepts
from the social influence topic to explain social
change. Most should explain how social influence
research helps us to understand social
change. Some could draw on general knowledge to
describe examples of social change from history.
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AQA Specification

• For your exam, you need to know
• How social influence research helps us to
  understand social change
• The role of minority influence in social change

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How does social change happen?

• How did these changes come about? Pick one
• The right for woman to vote in the UK (1918)
• The rise of Communism in Russia (1917-1989)
• Civil rights for minority groups (1960s-now)
• End of apartheid in South Africa (1990s)
• Smoking ban in the UK (2007)
• Recycling bin collections in Bristol (now)

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The Process of Social Change

• How does it happen?
• Minority holds beliefs and values opposed to the
  majority view.
• An inspirational leader may create a cult of
  personality.
• Meetings, rallies, leaflets, posters, direct
  action, bombs used to draw attention to the
  cause.
• Snowball effect leads to changes in public
  attitudes, social norms and/or the law.

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Why does social change happen?

• People follow the influence of role models.
  Example?
• A minority group uses information to persuade
  people to change their behaviour, through ISI.
  Example?
• An individual from a minority group speaks out
  against injustice, leading to a wave of dissent.
  Example?
• A dictator uses political and military power to
  create change, through fear and intimidation.
  Example?
• A minority group uses violence to raise awareness
  of their political viewpoint and force change.
  Example?

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Social Influence Research

1. Normative Social Influence
2. Informational Social Influence
3. Conformity (Asch)
4. Obedience (Milgram)
5. Independent behaviour

c) people follow new norms, from a group or role
model (compliance identification) a) people
change their beliefs and attitudes, due to new
information (internalisation) d) people can be
converted by a small group, if they are targeted
1-by-1. e) people will obey someone who appears
to have authority and power over them. b)
dispositional and situational factors affect
levels of conformity obedience.
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Applications of Research

• Latane Wolfes (1981) Social Impact Theory
  suggests that social influence is affected by the
  strength (status), immediacy (physical, social,
  psychological distance) and number of sources of
  influence.
• You have been asked to create a campaign for an
  animal rights charity which wants a complete ban
  on all animal testing. Outline a plan for your
  campaign, using Social Impact Theory to inform
  your choices.

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Applications of Research

• How did you use Social Impact Theory?
• Strength
• Immediacy
• Number
• What other ideas did you draw on?

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Minority Influence Research

• Minority influence research also provides
  evidence to help us understand social change.
• What is minority influence?
• What key study demonstrates the effects of
  minority influence?
• What is the most important thing to do if you
  want to create change from a minority position?
• What else will help you bring about change?

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Minority Influence Research

• Moscovici et al (1969) showed that consistency is
  a critical factor in minority influence. Other
  research has shown that the minority also needs
  to be flexible in the way they present their
  case, to bring people on side.
• Clark et al (1989) showed that persuasive
  information and effective counter-arguments are
  crucial, too.

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Minority Influence Research

• In addition
• Zimbardo (2007) proposed the idea of social
  heroism, where people who resist unjust
  authority are seen as heroes, providing a role
  model for other dissidents.
• Milgram Asch found that people were less likely
  to obey or conform if they had an ally.

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Explaining Social Change

• Choose one example of real social change that you
  know about.
• Choose 2-3 theories or research studies that can
  be used to help explain your example.
• Create a mindmap, poster, notes or an essay
• E.g. Suffragettes consistency (Moscovici)
  social heroism (Zimbardo) snowball effect
  changes to the law (1918, after WWI).

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AQA Specification

• Answer these questions to test your knowledge
• 1) How does social influence research help us to
  understand social change? (4 marks)
• 2) What is the role of minority influence in
  social change? (4 marks)
• You will need to choose what to say you only
  have 10 minutes to answer both questions!

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PSYA2 Social Approach Social Change
Learning Outcomes All must apply key concepts
from the social influence topic to explain social
change. Most should explain how social influence
research helps us to understand social
change. Some could draw on general knowledge to
describe examples of social change from history.