Changing Attitudes

What you'll learn

• What psychologists mean by attitudes, stigma, discrimination and social change.
• How minority influence can slowly change attitudes towards mental health.
• How majority influence can make anti-stigma behaviour feel normal and expected.
• How to apply and evaluate these ideas in GCSE Psychology answers.

The big picture: attitudes can be changed

In Social Influence, you study how other people affect what you think, feel and do. This topic applies that idea to changing attitudes towards mental health.

Mental health stigma can make people feel ashamed, hide their difficulties, avoid asking for help, or be treated unfairly. Psychology can help explain how societies move from stigma to greater awareness and acceptance.

In this topic, the goal is not just for people to say kinder things. The aim is for attitudes and behaviour to change: more understanding, less blaming, fewer insults, fairer treatment, and more support for people experiencing mental health problems.

Attitudes and behaviour are linked — but not identical

An attitude is internal: it is what someone thinks or feels. Behaviour is observable: it is what someone actually does.

For example, a student might privately believe that depression is “just laziness”. That is a stigmatising attitude. If they mock someone for needing support, that becomes discriminatory behaviour.

Minority influence: a small group changes the majority

Minority influence happens when a smaller group persuades the larger group to change its attitudes, beliefs or behaviour.

At first, the minority view may seem unusual or unpopular. In mental health, this could be a small group of campaigners saying that panic attacks, depression, eating disorders or schizophrenia should not be mocked or blamed.

How minority influence works

A minority is most persuasive when it shows:

• Consistency: the message stays the same over time.
• Commitment: the group appears dedicated, even when it is difficult.
• Flexibility: the group listens and adapts, rather than seeming extreme or unreasonable.

These qualities make the majority think more deeply. This can lead to conversion, which means a private, genuine change in belief.

Over time, more people may join the minority. This is called the snowball effect: support grows gradually until the minority view becomes much more common.

Minority influence and mental health stigma

A small group might challenge stigma by:

• sharing lived experiences of mental health problems;
• correcting myths, such as “people with mental illness are always dangerous”;
• campaigning for better school or workplace support;
• encouraging respectful language;
• asking media organisations to avoid harmful stereotypes.

This can change attitudes because people start to question what they previously accepted as “normal”.

Majority influence: the power of the bigger group

Majority influence happens when people change their attitudes or behaviour because of pressure from the larger group.

This is closely linked to conformity, which means changing behaviour or beliefs to fit in with a group.

Two main routes: normative and informational influence

Normative social influence means conforming because you want to be liked, accepted or not rejected.

In mental health, this might happen when most people in a school stop using insulting language about mental illness. A student may also stop using those words because they do not want others to disapprove.

Informational social influence means conforming because you believe the group has accurate information.

For example, if teachers, health professionals, trusted websites and peers all explain that depression is a recognised mental health condition, a student may accept this as correct information.

Majority influence and mental health stigma

Majority influence can reduce stigma when anti-stigma attitudes become the visible social norm.

This could happen through:

• national mental health campaigns;
• school policies against discriminatory language;
• celebrities or influencers speaking openly about mental health;
• teachers and peers consistently challenging stereotypes;
• laws and workplace rules supporting fair treatment.

When most people appear to accept a more supportive attitude, individuals may feel pressure to act in line with it.

Minority and majority influence often work together

Real social change often uses both types of influence.

A small minority may begin by challenging stigma. For example, people with lived experience of mental health difficulties might speak publicly and campaign for change. At first, their view may be unpopular.

If the message spreads, schools, workplaces, celebrities, health services and the media may support it. Then the anti-stigma message becomes a majority norm. At that point, majority influence helps maintain the new attitude.

Research link: NatCen / Morrell et al. (2011)

A useful OCR Social Influence research link is NatCen / Morrell et al. (2011), which studied public attitudes towards mental illness using survey methods.

The study is useful here because changing attitudes towards mental health needs to be measured. Researchers can ask people about their knowledge, attitudes and intended behaviour towards people with mental health problems.

This kind of research usually produces quantitative data, such as percentages or scale scores, because many participants answer the same questions. It may also show whether attitudes are becoming more positive over time.

However, surveys have limits. People may give socially acceptable answers because they do not want to appear prejudiced. This is called social desirability bias.

Ethics in attitude research

Research into mental health attitudes should follow the British Psychological Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct.

Researchers should consider:

• informed consent, so participants know what the study involves;
• confidentiality, because views and experiences about mental health can be sensitive;
• right to withdraw, so participants can leave the study;
• protection from harm, especially if questions remind someone of distressing experiences;
• debriefing, so participants understand the purpose and know where to get support if needed.

Evaluation: strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Changing attitudes through social influence has strong real-world value. It can help schools, workplaces and media campaigns reduce stigma and discrimination.

Minority influence is useful because it explains how social change can start even when most people disagree. This is hopeful: a committed group can challenge harmful beliefs.

Majority influence is useful because it explains how new social norms spread quickly. Once respectful attitudes become normal, people may be less willing to discriminate openly.

Weaknesses

One weakness is that attitude change does not always lead to behaviour change. Someone might say they support mental health awareness but still avoid or exclude someone with a mental health problem.

Another weakness is that majority influence may lead to compliance rather than genuine belief. People may follow the anti-stigma norm in public but not privately accept it.

Research into changing attitudes can also be difficult. Mental health stigma is sensitive, so people may hide their true attitudes in questionnaires. This reduces validity, because the study may not measure what it is supposed to measure.

Debate links

This topic links strongly to the nature/nurture debate because it suggests attitudes are learned and shaped by the social environment.

It also links to freewill and determinism. Social influence explanations can sound deterministic because they suggest people are pushed by group pressure. However, people still have some free will: they can reflect, question stigma, and choose to support change.

It can also be reductionist to explain mental health stigma only through majority or minority influence. A more holistic explanation would include education, personal experience, culture, media, laws and contact with people who have lived experience.