Minority influence

Question 1

What type of social influence takes place in minority influence

Answer 1

Internalisation

Question 2

Moscovici et al (1969) aim

Answer 2

• research into minority influence

- comparing inconsistent minorities with consistent minorities

Question 3

Moscovici et al (1969) method

Answer 3

• lab experiement using 194 women
• in groups of 6, pps judged the colour of 36 slides
• all ot the slides were blue, but the brightness of the blue varied
• 2 of 6 pps in each group were confederates
• in one condition, confederates called all 36 slides green (consistent)
• in another, confederates called 24 of the slides green and 12 of the slides blue (inconsistent)
• a control group was used with no confederates

Question 4

Moscovici et al (1969) results

Answer 4

• in control group, pps called slides green 0.25% of the time
• in consistent, pps adopted minority position and 8.4% called slides green and 32% called slides green at least once
• in inconsistent, pps moved to minority position and called slides green 1.25%

Question 5

Moscovici et al (1969) conclusion

Answer 5

• the confederates were in the minority
• their views appear to have influenced the real pps
• the use of the two conditions illustrated that minority had more influence when they were consistent in calling the slides green

Question 6

Moscovici et al (1969) evaluation

Answer 6

• lab study-lacks ecological validity as it was artifical
• pps were decieved as to the true purpose of the study-no informed consent
• because of the control group, the pps were influenced by the minority
• Nemeth et al (1974) showed that how the majority interprets the minority’s answers also matters -they must related to the stimulus in some predictable way. So more to minority influence than just consistency
• lacks experiemental realism-pps may not have realised study was real

Question 7

What is the conversion theory

Answer 7

• the influence of the minority on the majority
• this is more likey to affect private beliefs more than public behaviour
• conversion involves internal and public changes in attitude

Question 8

What are the four conditions of the conversion theory

Answer 8

• consistency-a clear view in the message that is sharing
• flexibility-how they are delivering the message, not appearing too rigid
• commitmement-behaviour that is showing/demonstrating
• relevance

Question 9

Two ways of increasing influence of minority

Answer 9

-styles of thinking
-identification
minority influence changes attitudes and behaviour over time

Question 10

Two ways of increasing influence of minority-styles of thinking

Answer 10

-minority stand an increased chance of getting individuals to engage in systematic processing when the viewpoint of the minority can be considered carefully and overtime

Question 11

Two ways of increasing influence of minority-identification

Answer 11

-when a majority identifies with a minority then the minority will become more persuasive

Question 12

Strengths of conversion theory

Answer 12

• influence of minorities on majorities is mainly in the form of private acceptance-link to internalisation
• evidence suggests that the opinions of the minority are often processed more thoroughly that the majority (Martin et al, 2003)

Question 13

Weaknesses of conversion theory

Answer 13

• minorities often less influential than majority (Erb et al, 2002)
• majorities generally differ from minorities in several ways e.g. power. Largely ignored by Moscovici