Majority Influence & Social Change (OCR GCSE Psychology): Revision Note

Changing attitudes towards mental health

• Major mental health charities and organisations use majority influence to create social change, encouraging open discussions and reducing negative stereotypes

Time to Change

• Launched in 2014, the ‘Time to Talk’ initiative encouraged people across the UK to spend time talking about mental health and reduce the stigma surrounding it

• The campaign used mass participation — schools, workplaces, and communities were invited to join in, spreading the message widely through social networks

• In 2017, over 29,000 conversations were logged online, showing that the campaign was successfully changing how people think and talk about mental illness

The National Attitudes to Mental Illness survey

• The National Attitudes to Mental Illness survey (started in 1993) found that since the Time to Change campaign began, there has been an improvement in public attitudes towards people with mental health conditions

• Around 10 million people in the UK have shown more positive views, suggesting that majority influence can create lasting attitude change

How majority influence works in social change

• When large groups consistently express acceptance and understanding, others are likely to conform to these positive norms

• People want to be seen as part of the ‘in-group’, so they adopt the same attitudes and language used by the majority

• If those in the majority avoid using stigmatising vocabulary (e.g. calling someone 'crazy' or 'weak'), this encourages others to stop as well

• Majority influence also helps those in the minority (people living with mental illness) feel more accepted and included

Example in schools

• If the majority of students openly support classmates with mental health difficulties, others will follow this lead

• Seeing acceptance modelled by peers helps reduce fear and misunderstanding, leading to genuine empathy and inclusion