minority influence AO1

Question 1

what is minority influence?

Answer 1

• a form of social influence in which a minority of people persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours.
• leads to internalisation or conversion in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours

Question 2

how do conformity and minority influence differ?

Answer 2

• minority influence refers to situations where one person or a small group of people influences the beliefs and behaviour of other people
• this is distinct from conformity where the majority is doing the influencing

Question 3

minority influence is most likely to lead to …… - both …. behaviour and …. beliefs are changed by the process

Answer 3

minority influence is most likely to lead to internalisation - both public behaviour and private beliefs are changed by the process

Question 4

what researcher researched minority influence?

Answer 4

• moscovici

Question 5

• moscovici et al demonstrated minority influence in a study where a group of … people was asked to view a set of .. ..-coloured slides that varied in …. and then state whether the slides were … or … . in each group there were … confederates who consistently said the slides were …. . the true partipcants gave the same …. answer (green) on ….% of the trials I.e agreed with the confederates
• a second group of participants was exposed to an …… minority (the confederates said ‘…..’ … times and ‘….’ … times). in this case, agreement with the answer ‘….’ …. to …..% .
• for a third control group, there were …. confederates and all participants had to do was identity the …. of each slide. they got this wrong on just ….% of the trials.

Answer 5

• moscovici et al demonstrated minority influence in a study where a group of 6 people was asked to view a set of 36 blue-coloured slides that varied in intensity and then state whether the slides were blue or green. in each group there were two confederates who consistently said the slides were green. the true participants gave the same wrong answer (green) on 8.42% of the trials i.e agreed with the confederates.
• a second group of participants was exposed to an inconsistent minority (the confederates said ‘green’ 24 times and ‘blue’ 12 times). in this case, agreement with the answer ‘green’ fell to 1.25%.
• for a third control group there were no confederates and all participants had to do was identify the colour of each slide. they got this wrong on just 0.25% of the trials.

Question 6

what is the process of minority influence?

Answer 6

• consistency
• commitment
• flexibility

Question 7

….. - the minority must be ….. in their views. over time, this ….. ….. the amount of interest from other people. ….. can take the form of …. between people in the minority group and/or …… over …. . a consistent minority makes other people start to …. their own views

Answer 7

consistency - the minority must be consistent in their views. over time, this consistency increases the amount of interest from other people. consistency can take the form of agreement between people in the minority group and/or consistency over time. a consistent minority makes other people start to rethink their own views.

Question 8

….. - the minority must demonstrate ….. to their cause of views. sometimes minorities engage in quite …. activities to draw ….. to their views. it is important that these …. activities present some …. to the minority because this shows greater ….. . majority group members then pay even more ….. . this is called the …… …..

Answer 8

commitment - the minority must demonstrate commitment to their cause of views. sometimes minorities engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to their views. it is important that these extreme activities present some risk to the minority because this shows greater commitment. majority group members then pay even more attention. this is called the augmentation principle.

Question 9

….. - …. argued that ….. is not the only important factor in minority influence because it can be off-putting. someone who is extremely …. who repeats the same old arguments and behaviours may be seen as …. . this approach on its own is unlikely to gain many …. . instead, members of the minority need to be prepared to …. their point of view and accept reasonable and valid ….. ….. . the key is to strike a …. between ….. and …..

Answer 9

flexibility - nemeth argued that consistency is not the only important factor in minority influence because it can be off-putting. someone who is extremely consistent, who repeats the same old arguments and behaviours may be seen as rigid. this appraoch on its own is unlikely to gain many converts. instead, members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter arguments. the key is to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility.

Question 10

over time, ….. numbers of people …. from the majority position to the minority position. they have become ‘…..’ . the more this happens, the …. the rate of …. . this is called the …. effect. gradually, the …. view has become the …. view and change has occurred

Answer 10

over time, increasing numbers of people switch from the majority position to the minority position. they have become ‘converted’. the more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion. this is called the snowball effect. gradually the minority view has become the majority view and change has occurred.