minority influence + social influence + social change

Question 1

minority influence vs majority influence

Answer 1

• majority influence (conformity)- people identify with majority and try to ‘fit in’ with their opinions
• minority influence= people consider message itself + want to understand why the minority hold this position

Question 2

what is minority influence more likely to lead to?

Answer 2

internalisation

Question 3

what is minority influence?

Answer 3

when a small group of people/individual changes the attitudes, behaviours + beliefs of the majority

Question 4

factors to enhance effectiveness of minority influence?

Answer 4

flexibility
consistency
commitment

Question 5

what is meant by flexibility?

Answer 5

• minority should adapt their point of view + accept reasonable and valid counter opinions –> otherwise could put people off + they may remain unsympathetic
• this is where consistency should be modified (need a balance)

Question 6

what is meant by consistency?

Answer 6

• consistent shows majority you are firm, resolute + strong in the face of possible criticism or outright hostility
• consistent minority makes people rethink their own views?

Question 7

what are the two types of consistency?

Answer 7

• diachronic consistency
• synchronic consistency

Question 8

diachronic consistency

Answer 8

minority have been arguing their view/message for some time

Question 9

synchronic consistency

Answer 9

minority all share same view/message

Question 10

what is meant by commitment?

Answer 10

• need to show full commitment to their message
• can be shown by indirect + direct action (maybe extreme cases (e.g. burning things etc)) –> this makes minority pay more attention
• strong commitment (even when being mocked) –> lead to majority to think the minority believe in their campaign (augmentation principle)

Question 11

what are the processes of change?

Answer 11

if you hear something new you may think about it more deeply especially if consistency, flexibility + consistency is shown.

overtime increasing numbers of people switch from majority position to minority –> they’ve become converted –> more this happens=faster rate of conversion –> SNOWBALL EFFECT

Question 12

Moscovoici el at sudy: aim

Answer 12

see if minority could influence majority when choosing between different colour slides

Question 13

Moscovoici el at sudy: procedure

Answer 13

• ppts. given eye tests (to check if colour blind)
• placed in groups (4 ppts. + 2 confederates)
• shown 36 slides of different shades of blue + asked to state colour of each slide out loud
• first part the 2 confederates said green but for all 36 slides (consistent in response)
• second part they said green 24x and blue 12 x (inconsistent in response)

Question 14

Moscovoici el at sudy: results

Answer 14

• when confederates consistent 4 ppts conformed and called slide green 8.42% of the trials, 32% calling a slide green at least once
• when inconsistent in answers= conformity reduced to 1.25%

Question 15

Moscovoici el at sudy: conclusion

Answer 15

minority can influence majority when show consistent behaviour

Question 16

Moscovoici el at sudy: eval points (pt1)

Answer 16

• 2/3 didn’t conform to minority at any time –> only small proportion so can’t generalise to public
• lab experiment- so wasn’t representative of something we’d expect
• only woman used= can’t generalise results
• artificial task= lacks mundane realism
• minority influence may be due to personality

Question 17

Moscovoici el at sudy: eval points (pt2)

Answer 17

• wood et al did a meta-analysis of 100 similar studies + found minorities who were consistent = most influential
• political campaigning/Jury decision making= outcomes are important= many studies on MI lack external validity + limited on telling us how MI works in real life situations

Question 18

Moscovoici el at sudy: eval points (pt3)

Answer 18

• variations in Moscovici study= ppts. wrote answers= private agreement with minority was greater
• they found ppl. less willing to change opinions if listened to minority group
• Martin et al= research support for deeper processing- he gave ppts. a message supporting a particular viewpoint + measured their agreement -> 1 group heard minority group agree, another heard majority –> ppts= exposed to conflicting views then had attitudes measured again –> ppl were less willing to change opinions if they had listened to minority group over majority = minority group had deeper processing and bigger effect BUT real life situations more complex (majority often have more power + status which is not acknowledged in research)

Question 19

minority influence in research

Answer 19

• Asch- when dissenter broke power of majority= conformity dropped, could lead to social change
• milgram- when confederate teacher refused to shock learner= obedience of ppts. dropped (importance of a disobedient role model)
• zimbardo- used to create social change via gradual commitment

social change= encouraged by drawing attention to what others are doing

Question 20

steps of social change (DCDASS)

Answer 20

1. drawing attention
2. consistency
3. deeper processing
4. augmentation principle
5. snowball effect
6. social cryptomnesia

Question 21

explain each step of social change

Answer 21

1. drawing attention= draw attention to situation
2. consistency= being consistent in opinion etc
3. deeper processing (of the issue)= activism means that ppl have accepted the status quo + are thinking more deeply about the unjustness of it.
4. augmentation principle- person takes personal risk or behaves in a way despite having obstacles e.g. racial groups boarding buses etc –> shows strong belief + reinforces their message
5. snowball effect- minority becomes majority
6. social cryptomnesia- people have a memory that change occured but don’t remember how it happened/events that led to the change.

Question 22

social change eval 1

Answer 22

• Nolan= research support for normative influences –> aimed to see if they could change ppls energy-use habits by hanging messages on a front door that residents were tryinf to reduce energy usage vs control grp who had a message asing them to save energy but no reference to other ppl –> 1st group had significantly bigger decreases in energy use
  BUT Foxcroft reviewed social norms interventions (70 studies where social norms approach was used to reduce alcohol use–> only found small reductio in drinking quantitiy + no effect on drinking frequency–> suggests normative influence doesn’t always produce change

Question 23

eval point 2 social change

Answer 23

• Nemeth suggests social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire –> when ppl consider minority argumets tehy engage in divergent thinking weighing up pros and cons –> this leads to better decisons to social issues –> shows the value of dissenting minorities as they stimulate new ideas + open minds that majorities can’t do

Question 24

eval 3 social change

Answer 24

• Mackie argues that the role of deeper proessing may not be a role in how minorities bring about social change –> he argues majority influence can create deeper processing if you don’t share same views as you are forced to think about their thoughts + reasoning –> minority infleunce + considering the message does not require deeper processing

Question 25

eval 4

Answer 25

barriers to social change- Bashir - ppl resist social change to not be be associated with stereotypical + minority 'environmentalists' as ppl described them in negatve ways e.g. 'tree-huggers'

Question 26

Asch's experiment

Answer 26

- dissenter present= broke power of majority= encourage others to do likewise= can lead to social change

Question 27

Milgram research

Answer 27

- when confederate teacher refused to give shocks to learner= rate of obedience to genuine obedience dropped

Question 28

what did Zimbardo suggest?

Answer 28

- obedience can be used to create social change through the process of gradual commitment --> once small instruction obeyed it becomes more difficult to resist a bigger one (ppl 'drift' into a new kind of behaviour)