2. Definition:
Social Change:
This is when a society adopts a new way of thinking
or acting, which then becomes the norm e.g.
from smoking indoors to not smoking indoors
Social Influence research has identified a number of
different ideas that an individual can employ in
order to achieve this, e.g. consistency, gradual
commitment, allies
3. Rebellion is independent behaviour
Why do people show independent behaviour
and resist the urge to...
Conform
Obey
4. In order to research social change
we look to research into minority
influence and obedience and
assess the implication of their
findings and relate this back to
how someone can create social
change
5. Minority Influence: Consistency
Research: Moscovici (1976) found that when a
minority group were consistent in saying that a
series of blue coloured slides were green than
they were more likely to persuade the majority to
say they were green than if they were
inconsistent
Implication: If a group in society are consistent in
their views they are more likely to achieve social
change (e.g. Gay right movements)
Consistency creates a sense of doubt in the majority
– this doubt leads to the change
6. Social Change – A02
P – Moscovici’s research is gynocentric
E – For example, the research was populated by
women only and so only tests the female
response to the effects of consistency and
minority influence
E – This is a weakness as it means the findings
cannot be generalised beyond the research to
suggest everyone would respond in a similar way
as the male response to consistency was not
investigated
7. Conformity: Allies
Research: Asch (1953) found that when a naive
participant heard a dissenter conformity rates
dropped to 5% compared to the 37% with no
dissenter – even when the dissenter gave an
alternative incorrect answer
Implication: If a group in society receive moral
support from other group members – implying
that people are able to remain independent
and create social change if they have support
8. Obedience: Allies
Research: Milgram (1963) found that when
people were given allies who disobeyed
orders it made it easier for them to follow
their lead and disobey themselves
Implication: If an individual/group wants to get
people to disobey a rule/law they are more
likely to achieve this if there are others already
disobeying – Social role models also may
perform a similar function in providing an ally
9. Obedience: Gradual Commitment
Research: Milgram (1963) found that people are
more likely to obey an order when they’ve only
ever been asked for ‘gradual commitment’ to
obey an order
Implication: If someone wants to achieve social
change by making people obey it is more likely to
be successful if they ask requests using the
gradual commitment technique – e.g. Short
questionnaire can lead to monthly donations to a
charity
10. Social Change – A02
P – Milgram’s study was conducted in a laboratory,
which means there was a high degree of control
E – For example, the researcher was able to control
extraneous variables such as the prods delivered to
the participants
E – This is a strength as Milgram was able to measure
the effects of an authority figure on obedience and
would have been able to accurately measure factors
that lead to social change
11. Social Change – A02
P – Both Milgram’s and Asch’s research can be criticised
for lacking ecological validity
E – For example, participants were placed in an artificial
setting and asked to complete an artificial task
E – This is problematic because the findings from the
study cannot be generalised beyond the artificial
setting of the laboratory to real life obedience,
conformity and social change
