Psychology Thursday, October 19, 2023

Social Change

Social Cryptoamnesia This refers to the idea that as a social group we tend to recall that change
has taken place but tend to forget about the steps that brought it about;
the rallies, sit-ins, riots etc.
Snowball Effect This is a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and
builds upon itself, becoming larger (graver, more serious), and also
perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous (a vicious circle, a "spiral of
decline"), though it might be beneficial instead.

Consistency Consistent behaviour or treatment.

Flexibility Willingness to change or compromise.

Commitment The state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.

Define Social Change:

When society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted
as the norm.

Process of Social Change:

1) Drawing Attention
The was done through social proof – in the 1950s in America, black separation applied
to all parts of America. There were black neighbourhoods, and in southern states of
America, places such as schools and were exclusive to whites. The civil rights marches
of this period drew attention to the situation by providing social proof of the problem.

2) Consistency
There were many marches and many people taking part. Even though they were the
minority of the American population, the civil rights activists displayed consistency of
message and intent.

3) Deeper Processing
Deeper processing of the issue – this attention meant that many people who just
accepted the status quo began to think about the unjustness of it.

4) The Augmentation Principle

There were a number of incidents where individuals risked their lives. For example,
‘freedom riders’ were mixed racial groups who got on buses in the south to challenge
the fact that black people still had sit separately on buses. Many ‘freedom riders’ were
beaten there were incidents of mob violence.
Psychology Thursday, October 19, 2023

5) The Snowball Effect

Civil rights activist such as Martin Luther King continued to press for changes that
gradually got the attention of the US government. In 1964 the US Civil Rights Act was
passed, which prohibited discrimination. This represented a change from minority to
majority support for civil rights.

6) Social Cryptoamnesia
This is where people have a memory where change has occurred but cannot remember
how it happened. There is no doubt that social change occurred and the south is quite
a different place now but some people have no memory of the events that led to the
change.

Small scale terror attacks such

as knifing.

Regularly following through

with an attack.

Continuously doing it, risking

their lives.

Suicide bombers.

Radicalisation.
Psychology Thursday, October 19, 2023

Lessons from Conformity Research

 Asch highlighted the importance of dissent in one of his variations where one
confederate gave correct answers and this broke the power of the majority, reducing
the conformity level.
 This is what has the power to lead to social change.
 Environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity processes by appealing to
normative social influence.
 They do this by providing information about what other people are doing (reducing
litter, giving up smoking etc).

Lessons from Obedience Research

 Milgram’s research shows the importance of disobedient role models.
 Zimbardo (2007) suggested how obedience can be used to create social change
through the process of gradual commitment. Once a small instruction is obeyed, it
become much more difficult to resist a bigger one. People drift into a new kind of
behaviour – like in Derren Brown, Pushed to the Edge.

Evaluation
Psychology Thursday, October 19, 2023

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