1.6 Minority Influence

Question 1

Minority influence

Answer 1

Persuasive minority changes the attitudes and beliefs and/or behaviours of the majority

Question 2

Minority influence lead to

Answer 2

Internalisation of minority viewpoint

Question 3

Minority influence differ from majority influence

Answer 3

Majority maintains status quo

Minority goes against it

Question 4

Succesful minority needs to show:

Answer 4

CCF

Commitment
Consistency
Flexibility

Question 5

Commitment

Answer 5

• staying strong
• engaging in extreme activities to draw attention
  Shows dedication

Important to take risks

Question 6

Commitment lead ot

Answer 6

Others paying more attention

Augmentation principle

Question 7

Consistency

Answer 7

• unchanging in opinion
• appears unbiased
• increase interest from majority

Question 8

Consistency lead to

Answer 8

• others starting to rethink their own views

- minority seen as mroe certain, confident and competent

Question 9

Moscovici 1969: aim

Answer 9

To investigate the effect of consistency on minority influence

Question 10

Moscovici 1969: method

Answer 10

172 female American ppts
Told colour perception experiment
6 ppts asked to estimate the colour, out loud , of 36 slides (diff shades of blue
2 of 6 ppts confeds

Question 11

Moscovici 1969: conditions

Answer 11

1. Consistent
   Confeds called the slides green on all trials
2. Inconsistent
   Confess called slides green 24 times, blue 12

Question 12

Moscovici 1969: results

Answer 12

Consistent: influences by minority , called slides green in 8.4% of trials

Inconsistent condition: called slides green in 1.25% on trials

Question 13

Moscovici 1969: conclusion

Answer 13

Consistent minority mode effective than inconsistent
Consistent - 8.4
Inconsistent - 1.25

Although minority only partially succesful

Question 14

flexibility

Answer 14

Must be prepared to adapt views and accept reasonable and valid counter arguments

Balance between consistency and flexibility

Question 15

Not flexible lead to

Answer 15

Consistent minorities who are inflexible in their beliefs, will not be eprusssive as they are off putting ro majorities
- rigid + dogmatic

Question 16

Nemeth 1986: aim

Answer 16

To investigate whether a flexible minority could influence a majority to give less compensation to a victim of a ski lift accident

Question 17

Nemeth 1986: method

Answer 17

• groups of 4, had to agree on amount of compensation they would give a victim of a ski-lift accident
• 1 confed
• 2 conditions

Question 18

Nemeth 1986: conditions

Answer 18

1. When the minority argued for a low rate of compensation and refused to changed its position
2. When the minority argued for a low rate of compensation but compromised by offering a slightly higher rate of compensation

Question 19

Nemeth 1986: results

Answer 19

Found inflexible condition, the minority had little or no effect on majority

Flexible condition, majority was much more likely to compromise and change their view

Question 20

Nemeth 1986: conclusion

Answer 20

A flexible minority is more effective than an inflexible one

Question 21

Strengths of minority influence consistency

Answer 21

• moscovici
• consistent minority most influential - meta analysis Wood et al 1994 - 100 studies

But 8% of agreement with minority still low - rare

Question 22

Strengths of minority influence flexibility

Answer 22

Nemeth 1986

Question 23

Limitations of minority influence

Answer 23

• artificial tasks x different to real world (jury decision making vs colour of a slide)
• complicated in real life
  Hostile majorities - consequences for identifying with minority
  Research doesn’t tell us much about real world