Minority Influence

Question 1

what is minority influence?

Answer 1

a form of social influence in which a minority (sometimes just one person) persuades others to adopt their beliefs,attitudes or behaviours

Question 2

what explanation of conformity does minority lead to?

Answer 2

it leads to internalization, in which we agree publicly and privately with minority view

Question 3

what are the 3 behaviours in minority influence (which research has highlights the importance of?

Answer 3

consistency
commitment
flexibility

Question 4

what is consistency?

Answer 4

repeating the same message and not deviating from this

Question 5

overtime, the consistency in the minority views leads to what?

Answer 5

increases the amount of interest from other people. Consistency can move other people, make them rethink their own views.

Question 6

name the two types of consistency that the minority may do?

Answer 6

synchronic and diachronic consistency

Question 7

what is synchronic consistency?

Answer 7

consistency between people in the minority (they are all saying the same thing)

Question 8

what is diachronic consistency?

Answer 8

consistency over time (they’ve bee saying the same thing for a long time)

Question 9

research conducted on consistency (synchronic) was done by who? what was the name of the study?

Answer 9

moscovici et al (1969)
it was called ‘blue-green slide’

Question 10

give the procedure of the moscovici et al study.

Answer 10

172 ppts whom were all tested before to ensure that none were colour blind. in groups of 6 (with 3 ppts and 2 confederates) were all asked to to state colour of 36 slides. all slides were different shades of BLUE

Question 11

what were the two conditions in the Moscovici et al study?

Answer 11

condition A: the confederates were CONSISTENT and called the slides green on all slides

condition B: the confederates were INCONSISTENT and called the slides green 24 times and blue 12 times.

Question 12

what were the findings of Moscovici et al?

Answer 12

in a control group (no confederates) only 0.25% of the ppts repriced only green slides

in consistent group = ppts areed with confederates, answered ‘green in 8.

in the inconsistent group = ppts answered ‘green’ in 1.25% of the trails

Question 13

what were the conclusion of Miskovic et la ?

Answer 13

minorities can influence majority.
TST minority influence is strongest when the minority is consistent in their views. when a minority is inconsistent in their views, they are less like influential (and have little to no support )

Question 14

evaluation of Moscovici et la:
the research has methodological issues this is because the task of looking slides is artificial and lacks mundane …. this means that is not representative of …. …. This then questions the …. of the research.

Answer 14

REALISM
EVERYDAY TASKS
VALIDITY

Question 15

evaluation of Moscovici et la:
real ppt’s were engaged in a low stakes task, which was ……
it can not possibly explain a high stake tasks e.g the influence of the minority convincing others the person in a court case is not guilty and should not have … ….

Answer 15

was deciding whether a slide is green or blue
the lethal injection

Question 16

evaluation of Moscovici et la:
the study lacks external validity, why?

Answer 16

this is because it is limited in what they can tell is about minority influence works in real world social interactions

Question 17

what does commitment mean?

Answer 17

sometimes minorities engage in extreme activities or inconvenience themselves to draw attention to their view

Question 18

fill in the gaps for COMMITMENT: it is important that these actions are seen as … in some way, as this demonstrates that the minority is committed to their ….

what is this refereed to as ?

Answer 18

RISKY / CAUSE

refereed to as the augmentation principle.

Question 19

what does flexibility mean?

Answer 19

being able to compromise and take on board other people opions.

Question 20

who conducted research into flexibility?

Answer 20

nemeth (1986)

Question 21

what did nemeth argue?

Answer 21

he argued that if the minority is seen as being ‘too consistent’ they are deemed to be INFLEXIBLE and uncompromising. When this happens, the majority is unlikely to change their views to match the MAJORITY

Question 22

what study did nemeth conduct?

Answer 22

constructed a mock jury in which 3 ppts and 1 confederate were instructed to discuss and agree upon an amount (which seemed unreasonable ) the majority stuck together at a much higher amount. However, when the confederate changed his compensation after abit (compromised) so did the majority

Question 23

what is the first step to the process of change occur ?

Answer 23

1, if you hear something new, from a consistent, committed and flexible minority, you are likely to at lease

Question 24

what is the second step to the process of social change?

Answer 24

2. this deeper processing is important in the process of ‘converting’ from the majority to the minority position.

Question 25

what is the third step to the process of social change?

Answer 25

3. the more people who 'convert' the faster the rate of 'conversion' becomes. This is referred to as The SnowBall effect

Question 26

what is the fourth step to the process of social change?

Answer 26

4. Gradually the minority view becomes the majority and social change leads to social cryptomnesia (forgetting old ways and adopting new ways) an leads to internalisation.