minority influence

Question 1

consistency

Answer 1

consistency in minority’s view increase interest from the majority
synchronic consistency - all saying the same thing
diachronic consistency - saying the same thing over a period off time
consistency = majority rethink their views

Question 2

commitment

Answer 2

minorities engage in extreme activities or sacrifices that draw attention to there views from the majority
augmentation principle

Question 3

flexibility

Answer 3

Nemeth 1986
consistency is not the only important factor as it can be interpreted negatively .
being extremely consistent can be seen as dogmatic and inflexible. this off putting and the majority are unlikely to convert to a minority position .
minority have to be flexible and ready to adapt and compromise .

Question 4

minority influence

Answer 4

a form of social influence in which a minority group persuade others to adopt their beliefs attitudes or behaviours .
leads to internalisation or conversion in which private and public attitudes are changed.

Question 5

snowball effect

Answer 5

over time an increasing amount of people switch from the majority position to the minority position . the more this happens the water the rate of the conversion .

Question 6

research support for consistency
strength

Answer 6

Moscivci et al
showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion
Wood et al 1994
carried out a meta analysis of almost 100 studies and found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential
- suggest that consistency is a major factor in minority influence

Question 7

artificial tasks
weakness

Answer 7

tasks involved such as identifying a colour of a slide are just as artificial as aschs line study .
research is therefore far removed from how minorities attempt mot change majorities in real life .
in jury descion making and political campaigning the outcome of the event is often more important and can be a matter of life or death .
- findings of moscovici et al are lacking external validity an are limited in what minority influence works in real life.

Question 8

research support for internalisation
strength

Answer 8

in a variation of moscovivs blue green slide study participants were allowed to write their answers down , so their responses were private , rather than stated out loud .
private agreement with the minority position was greater in these circumstances . it appears that members of the majority were being convinced by the minoritys argument and changing their own views , but were reluctant to admit to this publicly .
moscovci thought that this was probably because they didnt want to be associated with a minority position for fear of being awkward or being considered radical.