Minoirty Infuence

Question 1

Define minority influence

Answer 1

Type of social influence that motivates individuals to reject established majority group norms.

Question 2

How does resisting social influence help minority influence

Answer 2

Resisting social influence are able to exert minority influence on individuals and persuade them to reject view of majority.

Question 3

What type of social influence is minority influence

Answer 3

Informational social influence

Question 4

What does minority group need to be

Answer 4

• flexible
• consistent
• committed

Question 5

Why does the minority need to be consistent

Answer 5

• Ppl assume the minority is wrong
• when the minority is constant ppl consider their message
• failure to how both types of consistency undermines credibility of minority

Question 6

Types of consistency

Answer 6

• intra individual

- inter individual

Question 7

Define intra individual

Answer 7

Individual members of the minority maintain a constant position over time

Question 8

Define inter individual

Answer 8

Agreement among the different members of the minority

Question 9

Evaluation of consistency - strength

Answer 9

Moscovici et al
- wanted to see if a consistent minority could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer, in a colour perception task.

• They found that in the consistent condition the real participants agreed on 8.2% of the trials
• whereas in the inconsistent condition, the real participants only agreed on 1.25% of the trials
• This shows that a consistent minority is 6.95% more effective than an inconsistent minority and that consistency is an important factor

Question 10

Why is flexibility

Answer 10

• rigid minority that refuses to compromise risk being perceived as dogmatic
• however if minority appears too flexible may appear inconsistent

Question 11

Evaluation of flexibility - strength

Answer 11

Nemeth

• ppts in groups of 4 where asked to decide on an amount of compensation to give a victim of a ski lift accident
• confederate offered extremely low amount
• confederate flexible and moved number up slightly
• ppts far more influenced and decreased heir suggestions the when confederate was rigid
• demonstrates that flexibility has a positive effect on minority influence

Question 12

Why is commitment important

Answer 12

• being in minority inevitably brings a greater cost for a individual then staying with majority
• when showing commitment shows majority they are willing to make sacrifices
• majority takes them more seriously as it might be the truth

Question 13

Augmentation principle

Answer 13

Minority willing to make sacrifices

Question 14

Processes involved in minority influence

Answer 14

• drawing attention
• cognitive conflict stimulates thought
• consistency, commitment and flexibility plays role in making minority argument more persuasive
• snowball
• social cryptoamnesia

Question 15

Consistency, commitment and flexibility roel in minority influnce

Answer 15

• minority influence more persuasive
• minority commitment draws attention to minority’s view
• consistency and flexibility works to convince the majority that may be truth and value in minority position
• majority to think about issue either convert or dismiss it

Question 16

Snowball effect

Answer 16

• members of majority move towards the minority

- minority grows into a snowball so large it becomes majority

Question 17

Social cryptoamnesia

Answer 17

• slow and gradual process where by society ‘forgets’ the source of message and so accepts the view of the minority without too much disruption to social order

Question 18

Evaluation of explanations of social influence: weakness

Answer 18

• minorities tend to be in a disadvantage position and lack social power
• unlikely to have the power to influence ppl on wide scale
• threatening social order suggests deviant behaviour
• therefor unlikely to be able to have power to influence people of a wild scale

Question 19

Mackie (1987)

Answer 19

• majority make us think more than the views of the majority
• majority express a view that is different from the one we hold
• compelled to work out why and consider their views
• ppl tend not to waste their time to work out why minority message is different