Minority influence Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is minority influence
- Minority influence occurs when a smaller group persuades the larger group to adopt their beliefs or behaviors.
What are the key factors that affect minority influence
- consistency
- commitment
- flexibility
What was the aim of Moscovici’s study
To investigate how a consistent minority can influence a majority.
What were the findings of Moscovici’s study?
When the minority (confederates) were consistent, 8% of participants conformed. When inconsistent, only 1% conformed. This highlights the importance of consistency in minority influence.
What was the procedure for Moscovici’s study
- It was a lab experiment
- Participants were in a group where there were two confederates (the minority) and four participants (the majority).
- Everyone was shown 36 blue slides, each with a different shade of blue.
- They were each asked to say whether the slide was blue or green.
- Confederates deliberately said they were green on two-thirds of the trials, thus producing a consistent minority view.
- The number of times that the real participants reported that the slide was green was observed.
- A control group was also used consisting of participants only – no confederates.
What did Moscovici’s study find regarding the role of consistency?
When the minority was consistent in their responses, 8% of participants conformed by saying the slides were green, compared to only 1% conformity when the responses were inconsistent. This demonstrates that consistency is crucial for a minority to influence the majority.
What are the two types of consistency relevant to minority influence
- Synchronic Consistency: All members of the minority express the same view at the same time, presenting a united front.
- Diachronic Consistency: The minority maintains the same view over time, demonstrating enduring commitment to their position.
How does commitment enhance the minority influence
Commitment: When minority members show passion and unwavering confidence in their views, it implies the strength and seriousness of their stance, prompting the majority to consider the validity of their arguments.
How does flexibility enhance minority influence
Flexibility: While consistency is vital, showing a willingness to compromise and adapt prevents the minority from appearing too rigid or extreme, making their message more approachable and acceptable.
What did Martin et al. (2003) discover about processing minority messages?
They found that participants who heard a minority viewpoint were less likely to change their opinions even after exposure to opposing views, suggesting that minority messages are processed more deeply, leading to longer-lasting attitude change.
A03 - real life applications
✓ Point: The principles of consistency, commitment, and flexibility have important real-life applications for minority groups.
✓ Evidence: Research shows that when minority groups maintain a consistent and committed stance, while also displaying flexibility, they are better positioned to influence the majority.
✓ Explanation: This approach helps minority groups appear both credible and reasonable, which can encourage the majority to re-examine their own views; however, it is crucial to note that the majority is often larger and has greater connections and power, meaning these techniques alone may not always overcome entrenched opinions.
✓ Link: As a result, while these strategies offer valuable guidance for maximizing influence, effective real-world change also requires an awareness of the power dynamics between the minority and majority.
A03 - Critique of moscovidi’s methologology
(weakness)
✓ Point: A key critique of Moscovici’s study is its reliance on artificial tasks and stimuli.
✓ Evidence: The experiment involved participants viewing 36 blue slides (with varying shades) and making color judgments in a controlled laboratory setting, which does not mirror the complex scenarios in which real minority groups operate.
✓ Explanation: This reliance on contrived laboratory tasks results in a lack of mundane realism, meaning the findings have limited ecological validity and may not fully generalize to everyday social influence situations.
✓ Link: Future research should employ more naturalistic methods to better capture the dynamics of minority influence in real-world contexts.
A03 - Evaluation deep processing in minority
(strength)
✓ Point: Martin et al. (2003) found that minority messages are processed more deeply than majority messages.
✓ Evidence: In their study, one group heard the opinion of a minority while another heard that of a majority; after being exposed to an opposing opinion, the group that heard the minority view was significantly less likely to change their own views.
✓ Explanation: This suggests that the minority message, by holding more risk (as described by the augmentation principle), forces the audience to reconsider their views more carefully and process the information deeply, leading to enduring attitude change.
✓ Link: Therefore, minority influence can have a lasting effect as the deep processing of their message creates more stable opinion shifts.
