Lesson 12 - Minority Influence Flashcards
What is minority influence ?
Minority influence is when very persuasive small groups or individuals change the way the majority behaves and thinks. Minority influence leads to conversion. Conversion is when individuals change their private beliefs and views because of minority influence.
What are the three characteristics minority groups have to show when convincing ?
Commitment needs to be shown. This could be done by making sacrifices, taking risks or being inconvenienced in some way to show that the minority isn’t acting out of self interest.
Consistency needs to be shown. This can be done when the minority groups gives the same message repeatedly over time. This makes the majority reassess their belief.
Flexibility needs to be shown. This can be done by being flexible and non-dogmatic. When a minority show they are willing to listen to other viewpoints, the majority will then listen to the minority point of view.
What are the strengths of minority influence ?
Moscovici (1969) told 172 female participants that they were taking part in a color perception task. The naive participants were placed in groups of six and were shown 36 slides, which were varying shades of blue. Two of the six participants were confederates. The participants had to state out loud the colour of each slide. In the consistent condition the confederates said the slide was green in all 36 trials. In the inconsistent condition the confederates said that 24 of the slides were green and 12 were blue. In the consistent condition participants were swayed by the minority 8.2% of the time. In the inconsistent condition the participants only went along with the minority 1.25% of the time. This shows that a consistent minority is more effective than an inconsistent minority.
What are the weaknesses of minority influence ?
The samples of studies into minority influence are gender biased. Moscovici only used women. Therefore, we cannot conclude that male participants would respond to minority influence in the same way. Research suggest women are more likely to conform than men.
The samples of studies into minority influence are also culturally biased. All the participants were American so these findings cannot be generalised to other populations or cultures.
Most of the studies into minority influence lack ecological validity. This is because they are based and conducted in laboratories. The participants in laboratory experiments are usually a collection of students who don’t know each other and will probably never meet again.
