Social Influence:
Social influence process in social change:
The Process of Minority Influence ‘Conversion:’
1. Drawing Attention to an Issue:
The minority first draws the majority’s attention to their issue which creates a conflict that
they become motivated to reduce. An example is when the suffragettes used educational,
political and militant tactics to draw attention to the fact that women did not have voting
rights etc.
2. Cognitive Conflict:
The new conflict created by what the majority currently believe in and the minority’s belief
causes everyone to think more deeply about the issue.
3. Consistency of Position:
The minority become consistent with their argument over time, and studies have shown that
the more consistent the minority is, the more influential they are (like the suffragettes were
consistent over a long period of time, by protesting and lobbying et over years until they
eventually were given the vote).
4. The Augmentation Principle:
The minority starts to be willing to suffer for their views which makes them seem committed
and therefore taken more seriously. The suffragettes were augmented by being willing to risk
imprisonment and death from hunger strikes which made their influence more powerful.
5. The Snowball Effect:
Minority influence starts off with only a small effect but eventually spreads more widely as
more people start to consider the issue more deeply, until it reaches a tipping point at which
point it leads to a wide-scale change and becomes the majority belief.
The Process of Majority Influence (Conformity):
Behavioural choices are generally caused by group norms (conformity) - normative influence.
If people perceive something to be the norm, they will alter their behaviour to fit that norm.
Behaviour is therefore based on what people ‘think’ is the norm, and not on their own belief
or the ‘actual norm.’ Misperception is the gap between the perceived norm and the actual
norm.
Social Norms Interventions:
Social influence process in social change:
The Process of Minority Influence ‘Conversion:’
1. Drawing Attention to an Issue:
The minority first draws the majority’s attention to their issue which creates a conflict that
they become motivated to reduce. An example is when the suffragettes used educational,
political and militant tactics to draw attention to the fact that women did not have voting
rights etc.
2. Cognitive Conflict:
The new conflict created by what the majority currently believe in and the minority’s belief
causes everyone to think more deeply about the issue.
3. Consistency of Position:
The minority become consistent with their argument over time, and studies have shown that
the more consistent the minority is, the more influential they are (like the suffragettes were
consistent over a long period of time, by protesting and lobbying et over years until they
eventually were given the vote).
4. The Augmentation Principle:
The minority starts to be willing to suffer for their views which makes them seem committed
and therefore taken more seriously. The suffragettes were augmented by being willing to risk
imprisonment and death from hunger strikes which made their influence more powerful.
5. The Snowball Effect:
Minority influence starts off with only a small effect but eventually spreads more widely as
more people start to consider the issue more deeply, until it reaches a tipping point at which
point it leads to a wide-scale change and becomes the majority belief.
The Process of Majority Influence (Conformity):
Behavioural choices are generally caused by group norms (conformity) - normative influence.
If people perceive something to be the norm, they will alter their behaviour to fit that norm.
Behaviour is therefore based on what people ‘think’ is the norm, and not on their own belief
or the ‘actual norm.’ Misperception is the gap between the perceived norm and the actual
norm.
Social Norms Interventions:
