Minority Influence

Question 1

Minority influence

Answer 1

The case where a minority of group members (sometimes only one) influences the behaviour or beliefs of the majority

Question 2

Minority Influence - Consistency

Answer 2

-Must be constant in their view

-Consistency increases the interest from other people

-Can be an agreement between:
-people in the minority group (synchronic consistency - ‘they’re all saying the same things’
-Consistency over time (diachronic consistency - ‘they’ve been saying the same thing for a while now’

-Start to rethink their own views

Question 3

Minority influence - commitment

Answer 3

The minority must demonstrate commitment to their cause/view

Sometime extreme activities are used to draw attention to their cause/view

These must present some risk in order to show greater commitment

Majority groups members then pay even more attention - augmentation principle

Question 4

Minority Influence - Flexibility

Answer 4

Nemeth (1986) argued that relentless consistency could be counter-productive if it is seen by the majority as unbending and unreasonable.

Because of this, members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter arguments

The key is to have a balance between consistency and inflexible

Question 5

The snowball effect

Answer 5

When you hear new ideas, you are more likely to think more deeply about it.
- This deeper process is an important part of conversion to a different, minority viewpoint
- Over time, increasing numbers of people switch for the majority position to the minority position - converted
- The more this happens, the faster rate of conversion
Gradually the minority views has become the majority view and a change has occurred

Question 6

Research into minority influence

Answer 6

Moscovici et al (1969)

Question 7

Moscovici - procedure and findings

Answer 7

• 172 female participants, two groups, all viewed 36-blue coloured slides of varied intensity
• Each group had two confederates
  ○ Group 1 - confederate said green to every slide, true participants said green 8.42% of the trials
  ○ Group 2 - confederate said green 24 times and blue 12 times, participant was in agreement with ‘green’ 1.25%
  Control group - no confederates, got it wrong on just 0.25% of the trials

Question 8

Moscovici - conclusion

Answer 8

• Shows that consistent minority influence is far more influential than an inconsistent one
• Change is as a private level showing internalisation

Question 9

Research support for Moscovici

Answer 9

• Strength of Moscovici - that there is supporting evidence for the role of consistency:
  ○ Wood et al (1994)
  ○ Carried out meta-analysis of 97 studies of minority influence and found that minorities that were perceived as being especially consistent in expressing their position were particularly influential
  ○ This suggests that consistency is important

Question 10

Research to oppose Moscovici

Answer 10

-Research with higher mundane realism shows the consistency may not be the most important factor:

• Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987) asked a mock jury, with groups of 3 participants and one confederate, to decide on compensation for a ski-life accident
  ○ When the confederate argued for a very low amount and refused to change his position he had no influence
  ○ However, when he compromised and moved some way towards the majority position, the majority also changed the view
  ○ This also suggests that flexibility is important