Minority Influence

Question 1

What is minority influence?

Not needed for 12 marker

Answer 1

• The process where a small group of people change the behaviours and beliefs of a larger group to match the minority
• Minority influence usually results in internalisation - both public and private beiefs being changed in the long term

Question 2

What is commitment?

Answer 2

• The minority needs to show they’re willing to give their time, work hard, and take risks for their cause
• e.g. engage in activities that put them at risk (e.g. punishment) in order to bring more attention to their cause and help ensure the majority take them more seriously - augmentation principle
• Could also include spending personal time and effort to achieve a cause

Question 3

What is flexibility?

Answer 3

• Being inflexible makes the minority group look rigid and unwilling to compromise which is off-putting to the majority
• The minority needs to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter arguments

Question 4

What is consistency?

Answer 4

• On first exposure to the minority position the majority may assume they are wrong
• However, if the minority maintains their position the majority may reassess the situation and change
• This is shown in 2 ways:
  1. The minority having a consistent opinion over time
  2. Members of the minority having the same position among themselves

Question 5

What was Moscovici’s study?

Answer 5

METHOD: 6 Females (2 were confederates) were shown 36 blue slides projected on a wall and asked to identify the colour. There were 3 conditions:
1. Consistent: the confederates answered incorrectly (green) on all trials
2. Inconsistent: they answered incorrectly on some trials
3. Control: no confederates were present

FINDINGS:
- Consistently incorrect = 8.4% conformity rate
- Inconsistently incorrect = 1.25% conformity rate

CONCLUSION: Being consistent in views increases the influence on the majority

Question 6

How does Wood et al support?

Answer 6

• A strength of consistency as a factor in MI is that there is supporting evidence
• Wood et al did a meta-analysis of 100 similar studies of minority influence and found that consistent minorities were most influential
• This is a strength because it supports that consistency is a major factor in influencing a majority
• As the study is a meta-analysis it represents a broader consensus finding in the field and not a one-off finding
• This gives greater confidence in conclusions made and validates our understanding of consistency as a factor

Question 7

How is artificiality a weakness?

Answer 7

• A weakness of our understanding of MI is that it’s based on artificial tasks
• PPs judging the colours of slides in Moscovici’s study is not a task that people do on an everyday basis. This reduces the ecological validity of the findings
• These tasks are very different and inconsequential in comparison to how minorities would actually influence a majority in real life where there are actual consequences and decisions have a significant impact on others’ lives e.g. deciding a verdict on a jury
• This reduces the validity of the study and so our understanding of MI

Question 8

How is population validity a weakness?

Answer 8

• A weakness of our understanding of MI is that it’s informed by studies lacking population validity
• Moscovici only studied females
• Neto found that women are more concerned about social relationships and being accepted than men
• This may mean females are more conformist in response to minority influence than males and so the findings from the PPs in this study can’t be generalised to males
• Thus the findings can’t help our understanding of MI in males as they’re not applicable to them
• This reduces the validity of the study and so our understanding

Question 9

How does Nemeth support?

Answer 9

• A strength of flexibility as a factor is that there’s supporting evidence
• Nemeth studied groups of three PPs and one confederate who had to decide how much compensation to pay a victim of a ski lift accident
• When an inflexible confederate confederate argued for a low amount and refused to change their position they had no effect on the majority
• However, when they compromised a bit and suggested a slightly higher amount, the majority lowered their amount
• This is a strength because it shows that a minority being flexible leads to them influencing the majority more
• This validates flexibility as a factor