eval of minority influence

Question 1

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research support for consistency

Answer 1

Moscovici et al’s study showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion. Wood et al carried out a meta analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential. This suggest that consistency is a major factor in MI

Question 2

+research support for depth of thought

Answer 2

Support to prove that minority position does involve deeper processing of ideas. Martin et al gave ppts a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured their support. one group heard a minority group agree with the view while other group head this from a majority group. Ppts were finally exposed to a conflicting view and attitudes were measured again He found that the ppt were less likely to change their opinions if they listened to a minority group rather than a majority group. This suggest that minority message had more deeply processed had more of an enduring effect so it supports the argument about how the minority influence process work.

Question 3

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artificial task

Answer 3

Identifying the colour of a slide is seen as a artificial task . Research is therefore far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life. In cases such as jury decision making the outcomes are vastly more important and sometimes literally matter of life and death. this means that findings from his study lack external validity an dare limited in what they can tell us about how minority influence works in real life social situations.

Question 4

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research support for internalisation

Answer 4

In a variation of Moscovici’s study ppts were allowed to write their answers down so the responses were private. They found that private agreement with the minority was greater in these circumstances. The majority were being convinced by the minority argument and changing their own views but were reluctant to admit it publicly. Moscovici thought that this was because they didn’t want to be associated with a minority position

Question 5

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research support for flexibility

Answer 5

Nemeth and Brilmayer provided support for the role of flexibility in a stimulated jury situation. Group member discussed the amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in a ski lift accident. When a confederate put forward an alternative point of view and refused to change his position it had no effect on the other group. However a confederate who compromised and showed some degree of shift towards the majority did exert an influence on the rest of the group. Shows that we need some sort of flexibility when trying to convince the majority