Minority influence

Question 1

What is minority influence?

Answer 1

When a minority (small group) changes the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of a majority

Question 2

What are the factors associated with minority influence?

Answer 2

Consistency, commitment and flexibility

Question 3

What is consistency?

Answer 3

Minority influence is more likely to occur if the minority members share the same belief and retain it overtime which draws attention from the majority to the minority

Question 4

What is the key study associated with consistency?

Answer 4

Moscovici
Aim - To see if a consistent minority could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception test

Method - 172 female participants were told they were taking part in a colour perception test. The participants were placed in groups of 6 and were shown 36 slides of varying blue shades. They had to state out loud the colour of each slide. There were 2 confederates in each group. There were 2 conditions:
- Consistent condition where confederates said all slides were green
- Inconsistent condition where confederates said 24 were green and rest were blue

Results - In the consistent condition the real participant agreed on 8.2% of the trials and in the inconsistent condition the real participant agreed on 1.25% of the slides

Conclusion - A consistent minority is more effective than an inconsistent minority.

Question 5

What is commitment

Answer 5

When minorities will put themselves at risk in order to draw attention from the majority (augmentation principle) which makes the majority listen due to personal sacrifices made by the minority

Question 6

What is flexibility?

Answer 6

Minority influence is more likely to occur if the minority are willing to compromise with the majority so they cannot be viewed as unreasonable.

Question 7

What is the key study associated with flexibility?

Answer 7

Nemeth
Aim - To investigate the effects of flexibility

Method - Participants in groups of 4 had to agree on how much compensation they would give to victims of a ski-lift accident. There was 1 confederate in each group and 2 conditions.
- Inflexible where the minority argued for a lower rate of compensation and did not compromise
- Flexible where the minority argued for a lower rate of compensation but compromised with others.

Results - In the inflexible condition the minority had barely any effect on the majority but in the flexible condition the majority where much more likely to compromise and change their belief.

Conclusion - Highlights and supports the idea of flexibility

Question 8

Evaluate minority influence

Answer 8

• Moscovici had a biased female sample hence unable to generalise to males hence low population validity
• Moscovici deceived his participants which broke ethical guidelines, although if they weren’t deceived they may have displayed demand characteristics
• Moscovici has methodological issues, judging coloured slides is an artificial task hence lacks mundane realism hence lacks external validity