Minority influence

Question 1

What is minority influence?

Answer 1

A form of social influence, in which the minority persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours

Question 2

What type of conformity does minority influence lead to?

Answer 2

Internalisation

Question 3

Who researched minority influence?

Answer 3

Moscovici

Question 4

What was Moscovici’s blue-green slide study and what were his findings?

Answer 4

• Group of 6 asked to identify colour of 36 blue) slides
• 2 confederates in each group, who consistently said slides were green
• Participants gave the same wrong answer on 8.42% of trials
• Group 2- inconsistent minority- agreement to wrong answer fell to 1.25%

Question 5

What are the 3 factors that affect minority influence?

Answer 5

• Consistency
• Commitment
• Flexibility

Question 6

What are synchronic and diachronic consistency?

Answer 6

• Synchronic= everyone says the same thing
• Diachronic= everyone has been saying the same thing for a while now

Question 7

What is consistency?

Answer 7

People’s tendency to behave in a manner that matches their past decisions/behaviours

Question 8

What is commitment?

Answer 8

Showing dedication to something

Question 9

What is the augmentation principle?

Answer 9

Thinking, which leads to a deeper change

Question 10

What is flexibility?

Answer 10

Being prepared to adapt one’s point of view and accept counterarguments

Question 11

What did Nemeth argue about consistency?

Answer 11

• Consistency can be off-putting
• May be seen as rigid, unbending and dogmatic
• So flexibility is important

Question 12

Why is consistency important in minority influence?

Answer 12

• Minority must have consistent views
• Makes people begin to rethink their views
• Over time, consistency increases the amount of interest from others

Question 13

Why is commitment important in minority influence?

Answer 13

• Minority must develop commitment
• Extreme activities draw attention to their views

Question 14

Why is flexibility important in minority influence?

Answer 14

• Minority members must be prepared to adapt their views

Question 15

What research support is there for consistency?

Strength

Answer 15

• Wood et al carried out meta-analysis of 100 Moscovici-style studies
• Consistent minorities were most influential
• Suggests consistency is a requirement for minority influence

Question 16

What research support is there for deeper processing?

Strength

Answer 16

• Martin et al presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured agreement
  -One group heard minority, other heard majority, both heard conflicting view
• Less willingness to change opinions when they listened to minority group
• Suggests minority message had been more deeply processed

Question 17

What is the counterpoint to deeper processing research support?

Limitation

Answer 17

• Real-world= majorities have power and status
• Minorities committed to causes due to consistency (features absent from research)
• Research is limited in what it can tell us about real world minority influence

Question 18

How does minority influence research contain artificial tasks?

Limitation

Answer 18

• Moscovici et al- research far removed from the way minorities attempt to change behaviour in real-life
• E.g. jury decision making, political campaigning
• Findings in minority research lacks external validity