Minority Influence Flashcards
Minority influence refers to…
situations where one person or a small group of people (i.e. a minority) influences the beliefs and behaviour of other people
How is minority influence distinct from conformity?
Conformity is when the majority is doing the influencing
Conformity is sometimes called…
majority influence
True/False: In minority influence and conformity the people being influenced may just be one person, a small group or a large group of people
True
Minority influence is most likely to lead to what type of conformity?
Internalisation
Internalisation
Both public behaviour and private beliefs are changed in the process
What was the name of Moscovici’s study?
‘Blue slide, green slide’ study
True/False: Moscovici studied majority influence
False: Minority influence
In his study, Moscovici asked a group of how many people to view a set of 36 blue-coloured slides?
six
In Moscovici’s study, what were the group of six people asked to do?
View a set of 36 blue-coloured slides that varied in intensity and then state whether the slides were blue or green
In Moscovici’s study, participants were asked to view a set of how many blue-coloured slides that varied in intensity?
36
In the first two groups in Moscovici’s study there were how many confederates?
2
In Moscovici’s study, what did the confederates do in the first group?
Consistently said that the slides were green
In Moscovici’s study, true participants gave the same wrong answer (green) on 8.42% of the trials under which condition?
Group 1 - two confederates consistently said that the slides were green
In Moscovici’s study, why did participants say the slides were green on 8.42% of the trials when there were two confederates?
They agreed with the confederates
In Moscovici’s study, true participants gave the same wrong answer (green) on what percentage of the trials when there were two confederates who consistently said the slides were green?
8.42%
In Moscovici’s study, what was the difference between the confederates in the first group and second group?
The first group were a consistent minority and said the same wrong answer, whereas the second group were an inconsistent minority and said blue 1/3 of times
The second group in Moscovici’s study were exposed to a consistent/inconsistent minority
inconsistent minority
In Moscovici’s study, the second condition included confederates saying ‘blue’ __% of the time
33
When confederates in Moscovici’s study said blue 33% of the time and were an inconsistent minority, what did agreement with the answer ‘green’ fall to?
1.25%
In Moscovici’s study, true participants gave the same wrong answer (green) on 1.25% of the trials under which condition?
Group 2 - two confederates inconsistently said that the slides were green 2/3 of the time
What was different about the third group in Moscovici’s study?
There were no confederates
What was the effect of having no confederates in Moscovici’s study compared to the groups with confederates?
Participants got the answer wrong on just 0.25% of the trials
What did Moscovici’s study alongside other research draw attention to?
Three main processes in minority influence
What are the three main processes in minority influence?
Consistency, commitment and flexibility
Why must minorities be consistent in their views?
Over time, this consistency increases the amount of interest from other people
Synchronic consistency
Agreement between people in the minority group - everyone is saying the same thing
If there is agreement between people in a minority group and everyone is saying the same thing, what is this called?
Synchronic consistency
Diachronic consistency
Consistency over time - the minority have been saying the same thing for a long duration of time
If a minority have been consistent in what they are saying over a long time, what is this called?
Diachronic consistency
A consistent majority makes other people start to…
rethink their own views
‘Maybe they’ve got a point if they all think this way?’ is an example of a majority making other people start to rethink their own views through what?
Synchronic consistency
‘Maybe they’ve got a point if they have kept saying it?’ is an example of a majority making other people start to rethink their own views through what?
Diachronic consistency
Give an example of research evidence demonstrating the importance of consistency
Moscovici et al.’s blue/green slide study
What did Moscovici et al.’s blue/green slide study show about consistency?
A consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on changing the views of other people than an inconsistent opinion
What did Wood et al. do in relation to Moscovici’s minority influence study?
Carried out a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies
What did Wood et al. find when carrying out a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies to Moscovici’s?
Minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential
The fact that Wood et al. found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential suggests that…
presenting a consistent view is a minimum requirement for a minority trying to influence majority
One weakness of Moscovici et al.’s blue/green slide study is that it was just as __________ as Asch’s line judgement task
artificial
The criticism that Moscovici et al.’s blue/green slide study is artificial means that research is therefore…
far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life
In cases such as jury decision-making and political campaigning, the outcomes are vastly more/less important than demonstrated in Moscovici’s study
more
In jury decision-making and political campaigning the outcomes are vastly more important than Moscovici’s blue/green slide study. This means findings of minority influence studies are…
lacking in external validity and are limited in what they can tell us about how minority influence works in real-world situations
The criticism that Moscovici et al.’s blue/green slide study is artificial means that research is therefore lacking in what type of validity?
external
What is the difference between Moscovici et al.’s study and cases such as jury decision-making and political campaigning?
The outcomes of jury decision-making and political campaigning are vastly more important - sometimes literally a matter of life or death
Some minorities engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to and show __________ to their views
commitment
When minorities engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views, what does carrying out extreme activities with some risk show?
Greater commitment
If a minority engage in extreme activities that present risk to show greater commitment to their cause or views, the majority group are likely to pay more/less _________
more attention
‘Wow, she must really believe in what she’s saying so perhaps I ought to consider her view’ is an example of what?
A minority showing commitment - augmentation principle
Augmentation principle
A committed minority showing their commitment for example through risking themselves for their cause
having an effect on the majority - the majority value the importance of the cause as the minority are risking their lives for it.
What did Nemeth argue in relation to minority influence?
Consistency is not the only important factor in minority influence because it can be off-putting
Why did Nemeth argue that consistency is not the only important factor in minority influence?
It can be off-putting
Nemeth argued that someone who is extremely consistent, who simply repeats the same old arguments and behaviours again may be seen as…
rigid, unbending and dogmatic
Nemeth argued that consistency on its own is unlikely to gain many…
converts to the minority position
Nemeth argued that members of the minority ned to be prepared to do what?
Adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counterarguments
Nemeth argued that the key to minority influence is to strike a balance between what?
Consistency and flexibility
Consistency, commitment and flexibility all make people think about what?
The minority’s view or cause
Hearing something you already agree with usually/doesn’t usually make you stop and think
doesn’t usually
If you hear something new, you may think more deeply about it, especially if the source of the other view is…
consistent, committed and flexible
If you hear something new, you may think more deeply about it. It is this deeper processing which is important in…
the process of conversion to a different, minority viewpoint
The more that increasing numbers of people switch from the majority position to the minority position, the faster the rate of…
conversion
If someone switches from the majority position to the minority position, they have become what?
converted
Snowball effect
Over time increasing numbers of people switching from the majority position to the minority position. Gradually the minodity view has become the majority view and change has occurred
If the minority view gradually becomes the majority view and change occurs, what is this called?
The snowball effect
Who carried out research and found evidence showing that a change in the majority’s position does involve deeper processing of the minority’s ideas?
Martin et al.
What did Martin et al. do?
Present a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured participants’ agreement
Martin et al. presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured what?
Participant’s agreement
In Martin et al.’s study, what was the difference between the two groups?
One group of participants heard a minority group agree with the initial view, while another group heard a majority group agree with it
After participants in Martin et al.’s study had heard the minority or majority group agree with the initial view, they were finally exposed to…
a conflicting view
After participants in Martin et al.’s study had heard the minority or majority group agree with the initial view, they were finally exposed to a conflicting view and…
attitudes were measured again
What did Martin et al. find?
People were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to a minority group than if they had listened to a majority group
Martin et al. found that people were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to which type of group compared to the other?
Minority
Martin et al.’s findings suggest that…
the minority message had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect, supporting the central argument about how minority works
Martin et al.’s findings support the central argument about…
how minority works
Martin et al.’s research makes clear distinctions between,,,
the majority and the minority
The fact that Martin et al.’s experiment was done in a controlled way is a strength/weakness of minority influence research
strength
One criticism of Martin et al.’s study is that real-world social influence situations are much more ___________
complicated
Minorities/majorities usually have a lot more power and status that majorities/minorities
Majorities, minorities
Why do minorities have to be very committed to their causes?
They have to be because they often face very hostile opposition
Factors such as majorities having a lot more power and being hostile towards minorities are usually present/absent in minority influence research
absent
How are factors such as majorities having a lot more power and being hostile towards minorities usually absent in minority influence research?
The minority is simply the smallest group
Why is the absence of factors such as majorities having a lot more power and being hostile towards minorities a limitation of Martin et al.’s findings?
Martin et al.’s findings are very limited about what they can tell us about minority influence in real-world situations
