minority influence & social change

Question 1

minority influence

Answer 1

type of social influence
- motivates individuals to REJECT established majority group norms
- achieved through the process of conversion

Question 2

conversion

Answer 2

where majorities become GRADUALLY WON OVER to a minority viewpoint
- involves the new belief / behaviour being accepted both publicly & privately
— seen as a type of INTERNALISATION

Question 3

behavioural characteristics of the minority

Answer 3

CONSISTENCY
COMMITMENT
FLEXIBILITY

Question 4

consistency - minority influence

Answer 4

minority needs to be unchanging + consistent
- show confidence in its beliefs
- appear unbiased
- if minority = consistent, others come to reassess the situation and consider it more carefully
- Nemeth (2010)

Question 5

experiment into minority influence : consistency - aim & method

Answer 5

Moscovici (1969) wanted to see if a consistent minority could influence a majority
- to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task
- 172 female pps
- groups of 6 (2/6 = confeds)
- shown 36 slides, varying shades of blue, pps had to state aloud the colour
- in the consistent condition, the 2 confeds said ALL SLIDES = GREEN
- inconsistent condition, they said 24 slides were gree (12=blue)

Question 6

Moscovici’s findings (minority influence)

Answer 6

in consistent condition, the real pps agreed on 8.2% of the trials
- inconsistent, real pps only agreed on 1.25%of the trials

shows that a CONSISTENT minority = 6.95% more effective than an inconsistent one
- CONSISTENCY = IMPORTANT FACTOR in exerting minority influence

Question 7

other research support for consistency - minority influence (Wood et al (1994)

Answer 7

carried out a META ANALYSIS of 97 studies of minority influence
- found that minorities who were perceived as consistent were particularly influential

Question 8

commitment

Answer 8

suggests CERTAINTY, CONFIDENCE, COURAGE in the face of a hostile majority
- joining minority has greater cost than staying w majority, so commitment of minority = greater (usually)
- this greater commitment may persuade majority to take them seriously, or convert them to minority position
- augmentation principle

Question 9

augmentation principle

Answer 9

explains how minorities can CHANGE the majority
- minority is doing smthn quite RISKY, but shows COMMITMENT
- so majority will pay more interest

Question 10

research support for commitment - minority influence

Answer 10

Xie et al (2011)
- discovered a ‘tipping point’
- how many ppl you need in minority to change majority
- found you need approx. 10% of minority pop. to INFLUENCE majority

Question 11

flexibility

Answer 11

Mugny (1982) suggests that FLEXIBILITY is more EFFECTIVE at changing majority opinion
- rather than rigidity of arguments
- minorities are generally powerless, so they have to NEGOTIATE
— rather than enforce their position upon the majority
BUT : a minority that is TOO flexible is seem as weak & inconsistent

Question 12

research support for flexibility - minority influence

Answer 12

Nemeth (1986)
- investigated the idea of flexibility as a key characteristic of successful minorities who exert pressure
- pps in groups of 4
- had to agree on how much compensation they’d give to a ski life accident victim
- one = confed, 2 conditions (low rate of compensation, one flexible and one not)
- found that in the INFLEXIBLE condition, minority had little or NO EFFECT on majority
- flexible - they were more effective, majority more likely to also compromise
- highlights important of flexibility
- striking a balance between consistency and flexibility = most successful strategy

Question 13

strengths of minority influence

Answer 13

there is ‘real value’ of research into minority research
research evidence

Question 14

strength of minority influence: value of research

Answer 14

• Nemeth argues dissent in the form of minority group OPENS THE MIND
  — as a result, ppl search for infor, consider more options, make better decisions that are more creative
• allows researchers to UNDERSTAND the means and processes for SOCIAL CHANGE
• (linked to minority influence)

Question 15

strength of minority influence : research evidence

Answer 15

• to show that change in minority position involves deeper processing of ideas
• Martin et al (2003)
• gave pps a message supporting a viewpoint and measured their support
• one group heard a minority agree with the initial view
  — other group heard the majority agree
• pps were exposed to a conflicting view
  — attitudes were measured again
• pps were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to minority group rather than majority
  — shows the POWER of minority influence
• in terms of being more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect

Question 16

weaknesses of minority influence

Answer 16

lacks ecological validity
may not apply to real life situations

Question 17

weakness of minority influence : realism

Answer 17

lack of realism of tasks given to pps
- eg Moscovici’s study, judging colour of slides is not real to life
- lacks ecological validity
-so, we should be cautious when analysing research findings
- studies may not represent how minority influence works IRL

Question 18

weakness of minority influence : real life situations

Answer 18

may not apply to real life situations, which can be much more complicated
- eg Nemeth claimed that it’s still hard to convince ppl of the value of dissent
- since ppl may accept the minority opinion on the SURFACE
- but may become irritated by the view
- fear lack of harmony
- as a result, we attempt to belittle dissenting view to contain it

Question 19

social change

Answer 19

when a WHOLE SOCIETY changes and adopts new beliefs / ways of behaving
- which then becomes the norm

Question 20

social change is commonly a result of …

Answer 20

MINORITY INFLUENCE
- when an individual / small group impact upon the majority

Question 21

what would happen if minorities didn’t exist?

Answer 21

there would never be any change
- we would simply go along w the majority all the time
- no new ideas (innovation), no unfairness would be challenged, and society would never improve

Question 22

example of social change

Answer 22

attitudes towards homosexuality
- it was an imprisonable offence in UK until 1967
- public attitudes have changed over time
- now most people view being gay as normal
- laws have been created to protect gay rights
- 2005 - same sex civil partnerships introduced

Question 23

6 stages of how minority influence creates social change

Answer 23

DRAWING ATTENTION to the issue - minorities draw majority’s attention to an issue
CONSISTENCY of position - minorities = more influential when they express arguments consistently, over time, w each other
DEEPER PROCESSING - other ppl start to pay attention to minority, thinking about status quo and unjustness of it
AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE - if minority appears willing to suffer for their views, they’re seen as more committed, taken more seriously, eg doing smthn ‘wow’ to catch majority’s attention, links to commitment
SNOWBALL EFFECT - minority’s effect starts small, then spreads more widely, more ppl consider the issue, reaches a tipping point where minority become majority, wide scale social change, conformity will occur, laws may be introduced
SOCIAL CRYPTOAMNESIA - majority knows social change has occurred, but don’t recall how it happened, source of change and message itself has become disassociated, maybe bcs laws have been made - don’t think abt why

Question 24

african-american civil rights movement : social change

Answer 24

DRAWING ATTENTION - done through social proof, civil rights marches drew attention to the problem, 1950s
CONSISTENCY - many marches, many ppl taking part, activists displayed consistency of message and intent
dEEPER PROCESSING - this attention meant that many ppl started to question the status quo, injustice of it
AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE - number of incidents where ppl risked their lives, eg freedom riders got on buses in the south to challenge the separation, many were beaten
SNOWBALL EFFECT - activists like Martin Luther King continued to press for change, gradually got attention of govt, 1964 = civil rights act, prohibited discrimination, change from minority to majority support
SOCIAL CRYPTOAMNESIA - ppl can’t remember how the change happened, no memory of the events that led to the change, but know it happened

Question 25

lessons from CONFORMITY research (social change)

Answer 25

Asch’s variation - learned that when one confed gave a different answer to majority, CONFORMITY rates DROPPED
- even if the answer was wrong
- such dissent has potential to lead to social change
- environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity processes through NSI
— give info like ‘bin it, others do it’ - seems like majority is interested in protecting the environemnt
- social change is encouraged by drawing attention to what the majority is doing

Question 26

lessons from OBEDIENCE research (social change)

Answer 26

Milgram’s research - showed when there was one disobedient person, obedience rates DROPPED
- person refused to give the shock, so others did the same

Zimbardo - suggested how obedience can be used to create social change
- through process of gradual commitment
- once small instruction is obeyed, it becomes increasingly difficult to resist further instructions
- (social change will happen when one disobedient person can take the correct decision and others will follow)

Question 27

lessons from MINORITY INFLUENCE research (social change)

Answer 27

Moscovici’s research - minority needs to be flexible, committed, consistent
- to bring about social change
- if source is consistent and passionate, ppl are more likely to think abt new ideas
- over time, inc. numbers of ppl switch from majority to minority
— snowball efffect
- eventually, minority becomes majority - social change has occurred successfully

Question 28

strength of the role of social influence processes in social change

Answer 28

RESEARCH EVIDENCE for the role of NSI in bringing about social change
- Nolan (2008) investigated if social influence processes led to reduction in energy consumption
- hung messages on house doors (san diego) everyday for a month
- key message - most residents were trying to reduce their energy usage
- (control group had message without ref. to other ppl)
- group w ref. to other ppls showed a DECREASE in energy usage
- CONFORMITY can lead to social change through NSI

Question 29

weaknesses of role of social influence processes in social change

Answer 29

effects of minority influence are likely to be mostly INDIRECT and DELAYED
may be barriers to social change

Question 30

weakness of social change - Nemeth (1986)

Answer 30

argues the effect of min. inf. are likely to be mostly INDIRECT and DELAYED
- indirect : majority is influenced only on the matters at hand, not the central issues itself
- delayed : effects may not be seen for some time
- limitation of using min. inf. to explain social change bcs effects are fragile and LIMITED
- then makes it hard to measure and test in a scientific setting
— social change does not happen straight away

Question 31

weakness of social change - Bashir et al. (2013)

Answer 31

investigated BARRIERS to social change
- found pps were less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways
- didn’t want to be associated w environmentalists stereotyped as tree huggers
- so social change can only happen if min. inf. is not associated w negative and extremist STEREOTYPES (difficult to shift)
- means that studying social change is even more difficult
— when there are barriers to social change in general