Minority Influence

Question 1

Minority Influence

Answer 1

1) Refers to how one person/small group influences behaviours of others.
2) Minority rejects the norm of majority of group members and persuades majority.
3) Leads to internalisation - public behaviour & private beliefs are changed in the process by 3 processes:
- consistency
- commitment
-flexibility

Question 2

Moscovici - Blue-Green Slides

Answer 2

Procedure:
- Eye tests to ensure pps weren’t colourblind.
- Placed in groups –> 4 pps & 2 cons.
- Shown 36 slides - different shades of blue & asked what colour shown.
- First Part - cons answered green for each slide (consistent answers)
- Second Part - green 24 times & blue 12 times (inconsistent)
- Control group used for comparison - no cons.

Question 3

Results & Conclusion

Answer 3

Results:
- Control group - 0.25% of responses were green.
- Experimental Group - 1.25% green when cons were inconsistent, 8.42% when cons were consistent.

Conclusion:
- minorities can influence majorities –> more effective when minorities are consistent in responses.

Question 4

Factors Affecting Minority Influence

Answer 4

1) Consistency:
- Over time, consistency of minority views gain more interest –> makes other rethink own views.
Synchronic consistency: minority all saying same thing.
Diachronic consistency: have been saying same thing for a long time.

2) Commitment:
- Engaging in extreme activities to draw attention to their cause (e.g. Father4Justice).
- Activities must cause some risk to minority to show commitment.
- Augmentation principle - increases amount of interest further from other majority group members.

3) Flexibility:
- If minority is seen as inflexible - majority are unlikely to change.
- Should balance consistency & flexibility so they don’t appear rigid.

Question 5

Strengths - Research Support

Answer 5

1) Consistency:
- Moscovici et al’s study showed consistent minority opinions has greater effect on majority.
-Wood et al –> conducted a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found minorities seen as consistent were most influential –> confirms consistency is a major factor in minority influence.

2) Depth of Thought:
Martin et al:
- Gave pps a msg supporting a viewpoint and measured their support.
- One group of pps then heard a minority group agree with view while another group heard a majority group.
- After pps were exposed to a conflicting view their attitudes were measured again.
- Found ppl were less willing to change opinions if they listened to a mino group –> suggests minority msg had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect.

Question 6

Limitation of M.I

Answer 6

Artificial Tasks:

1) AT are far removed from how minorities attempt to change behaviour of majorities IRL –> jury decision making, political campaigning have more important outcomes.

2) So findings of minority influence studies (Moscovici’s) lack external validity & are limited in what they can tell us about how M.I works in real-world situations.

Question 7

Process of Minority Influence

Answer 7

1) Individuals think deeply about minority views as it is unfamiliar.
2) Snowball effect - over time, ppl are ‘converted’ & there is a switch from minority to majority.
3) The more this happens the faster the rate of conversion –> gradually minority view becomes majority & social change has occurred.