1.4.1 Minority influence including commitment and consistency

Question 1

What is minority influence?

Answer 1

Minority Influence is when a small group of people or even an individual changes the attitudes, behaviours and beliefs of the majority.

Question 2

Explain consistency.

Answer 2

The minority has to be consistent in their views as this increases the amount of interest from others and gets people to start to rethink their own opinions. This is due to types of consistency.

Question 3

Explain synchronic consistency.

Answer 3

Synchronic consistency: They’re all saying the same thing.

Question 4

Explain diachronic consistency.

Answer 4

Diachronic consistency: They’ve been saying the same thing for a long period of time.

Question 5

Explain commitment.

Answer 5

The minority has to show full commitment to their views and show this through their actions, which can be extreme in some cases
taking part in extreme actions or having extreme views makes the majority think that the minority group must truly believe what they are doing.

Question 6

Explain flexibility.

Answer 6

The minority has to be able to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter opinions, the minority have to be able to have a balance between both consistency and flexibility
They cannot be dogmatic in their views.