Social Influence - Minority Influence and Social Change
Minority Influence
Definition: The lecture defines minority influence as the process where "individuals and small groups to influence the behavior and beliefs of larger groups and even change entire societies." This contrasts with the initial impression that social influence is solely about "authority figures and majority groups forcing the individual to change their behavior".
Key Factors:
Consistency: The lecture emphasizes two types:
Diachronic Consistency: "individuals within the minority group can repeat the same message over a long period of time."
Synchronic Consistency: "all members of the minority group can be consistent with each other having the same clear message." This is exemplified by government ministers adhering to the "party line," even if privately disagreeing. The lecture notes the apparent unity this creates: "Synchronic consistency makes them seem more united as a group and more convincing".
Commitment: Demonstrating genuine belief through willingness to suffer for one's beliefs. The lecture cites the Suffragettes' hunger strikes, arrests for civil disobedience, and Emily Davison's actions at the Epsom Derby as examples. The lecture also mentions that willingness to suffer increases the credibility of the minority's message: "if someone can demonstrate to you they're not getting any personal reward for promoting their position but instead are willing to take a personal cost you're more likely to trust that they truly believe it". The augmentation principle is introduced, stating that observing someone act despite significant obstacles "augments what we assume to be the underlying motive for that action".
Flexibility: While consistency is crucial, the lecture emphasizes the importance of demonstrating reasonableness and openness to counterarguments: "Being somewhat flexible demonstrates that the minority is reasonable and open to valid counterarguments". The example given is Green campaigners adjusting their stance from an immediate ban on fossil fuel cars to advocating for discounts on electric cars.
Examples and Concepts:
Synchronic Consistency: The lecture explicitly uses the example of government ministers maintaining a consistent "party line," even if their private views differ.
Commitment: Beyond hunger strikes, the lecture suggests other forms of commitment, such as "volunteering to give up their time" or "continuing of an unpopular position despite suffering social rejection".
Augmentation Principle: The lecture defines this as inferring strong internal motivation from actions performed despite significant obstacles.
Snowball Effect: The lecture describes this as a process where "Minority influence often starts as a slow process...but if each one of those people converts more this effect can be exponential".
Minority Influence Studies
Moscovici’s Study: The lecture describes this study as a "reverse of Ash," involving a color perception test where consistent confederates claimed blue slides were green. The results showed that the consistent minority was far more influential (8% of trials) than the inconsistent minority (1%). The lecture points out that "the majority of real participants 68% didn't conform," highlighting the limitations of minority influence.
Nemeth's Study: This mock jury study examined the impact of flexibility on a confederate's ability to influence compensation levels in a ski lift accident case. The lecture summarizes the findings: "the flexible Confederates were more successful in convincing members of the majority to reduce their level of compensation".
Evaluation of Studies
Generalizability: The lecture criticizes the generalizability of both Moscovici's and Nemeth's studies due to their artificial nature: "they both have strange tasks so they lack mundane realism and being set in a lab environment they have poor ecological validity". The lecture emphasizes that real-world minority influence often involves individuals known to us, and not "total strangers", dealing with "important social issues" rather than trivial tasks.
Social Change
Definition: The lecture defines social change as the large-scale adoption of a minority's beliefs and behaviors: "a minority group challenging a majority view...leads to entire societies taking on the attitudes beliefs and behavior of the minority group".
Mechanisms:
Obedience and Conformity: The lecture explains that governments, as minorities, can use laws to enforce conformity. Examples provided include laws regarding smoking in public places, social distancing measures during the pandemic, and anti-discrimination laws.
Normative and Informational Influence: While normative influence is harder for minorities, the lecture suggests that informational influence, such as providing new information (e.g., climate change campaigns), can lead to internalization and conversion.
Examples
Government Influence: The lecture gives specific examples of laws impacting social behavior: "when smoking in public places like pubs was made legal," "rules around social distancing and mask use during the pandemic," and "the passing of discrimination laws protecting characteristics such as age disability and sexual orientation".
Informational Influence: The lecture uses climate change campaigns as an example of informational social influence.
Concepts in Social Change
Social Cryptoamnesia: The lecture describes this as the tendency for society to forget the origins and sacrifices of minority groups once their ideas become mainstream. The lecture notes that initial extreme actions by minority groups may be "demonized" by the media, but later adopted without acknowledgment of their origin.
Evaluations of Social Change
The lecture emphasizes using real-life examples to evaluate social change. It analyzes the Civil Rights Movement, highlighting the consistency and commitment of its leaders and the use of non-violent protests. The lecture also discusses the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement's use of flexibility (civil partnerships) as a stepping stone toward achieving same-sex marriage legalization.
Practical Applications
The lecture suggests that the principles of minority influence can be applied to encourage positive social change in various areas, such as healthcare, economic policies, and emergency situations.
Challenges
The lecture notes the difficulty of conducting controlled experiments on large-scale social change, leading researchers to rely on natural experiments and case studies.