#psya2

The psychology exam today, the abnormality section in particular was a little bit close to home.

Implications for social change = how findings from research can be used to change the nature of situations, social behaviour or social relationships in a society or community.

Implications from research into conformity:

Implications for the Justice System: Sherif’s research tells us we will conform to the majority if the decision is difficult or if we desire to be right. If you’re on a jury of 11 others this suggests that you will go along with the group as you may believe you cannot be the only one who is right and it’s easier to simply go along with the group. They believe everyone must be right - internalisation and informational social influence.

Implications for creativity and problem solving: research suggests that if you are in the minority group you’re more likely to show independent behaviour and have n internal locus of control. We need more creative problem solvers (minority groups) in order to bring about social change. These people need to be encouraged within society to cause positive social change. This may result in changes to schooling systems to encourage these types of thinkers.

Implications from research into majority influence: 

Implications from findings of Zimbardo’s prison study: Zimbardo suggested for these types of situations it’s not about ‘a bad apple in a barrel’ but more so a ‘bad barrel.’ This means for many situations its not about the individual but more so about the situation they are put in. This means as a society we need to be more aware of the situations we put people in that make people act a certain way. Normal people acting in evil ways is known as the ‘Lucifer Effect’. If we put people in certain situations the results may be extremely undesirable. 

Implications from research into Minority Influence:

Implications for the legal system: based on this idea a single juror could work to influence the opinion of many others in the jury.

Implications for democratic societies, pressure groups etc: roles of pressure groups in our society is important in bringing about positive social change. Greenpeace is an example that created social change regarding environmental issues.

Implications for the suffragette movement: women brought about social change by carrying out extraordinary acts while being consistent in their beliefs that women deserve the right to vote along with full equal rights. They aimed to persuade their audience and were confident in what they believed in. 

Implications from research into Obedience:

Minority Influence: when a small group of individuals can influence a larger group of individuals to change their behaviours/values/attitudes.

Moscovici et al (1969): He asked participants in small groups to judge a colour - whether a slide projection was green or blue. There were two confederates who were instructed to say green regardless. They found the minority opinion had an impact on the majority as nearly 1/3 of the participants agreed with the minority at least once. It seemed that if 2 confederates consistently agreed with each other and were confident in their opinions  they could persuade the majority (other 4 participants).

To be a powerful majority you must be… 

Consistent: views need to be consistent over time and consistency must be present within the minority group - indicates the minority are committed which makes them harder to ignore and more likely to be seen as an alternate view. 

Confident: minority group must demand attention and respect from the majority group in order to have their opinions heard and eventually accepted

Persuasive: the minority should try to win over members of the majority to the minority view by making them question their morals