Minority influence

Question 1

What is minority influence

Answer 1

One person/small group affect the behaviour/beliefs of the majority
Leads to internalisation

Question 2

What is consistency

Answer 2

Minority maintain their shared beliefs over time

Question 3

Aim of Moscovici’s study

Answer 3

To see if a consistent minority can influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task

Question 4

Moscovici’s procedure

Answer 4

172 females
Groups of 6 with 2 of them being confederates
Groups were asked to look at 36 blue slides of varying intensity/identify its colour
Confederates said 24 of the slides were green and 12 were blue

Question 5

Moscovici’s findings

Answer 5

Consistent condition - Participants agreed on 8.2% of trials
Inconsistent condition - Participants agreed on 1.25% of trials
Shows how a consistent minority if more effective

Question 6

Moscovici’s conclusion

Answer 6

Minorities can influence the majority but not all the time(mostly when consistent)

Question 7

What is flexibility

Answer 7

Minority being willing to compromise which means they can’t be viewed as unreasonable

Question 8

Describe Nemeth’s study of flexibility

Answer 8

Aim - Investigate flexibility as a characteristic of successful minority persuasion

Procedure - Groups of 4 participants(1 is a confederate) had to agree on compensation given to injured skier

Findings:
Inflexible condition - Confederate argued low compensation and refused to change(no effect on majority)
Flexible condition - Confederate was willing to be flexible. This influenced the majority to compromise

Conclusion - Highlights importance of flexibility but questions consistency

Question 9

What is the augmentation principle

Answer 9

Minority sacrifice something in order to show their commitment
This makes the majority pay more attention to the actions being taken

Question 10

A03’s for minority influence

Answer 10

Supporting research for consistency - Wood et al’s meta analysis of 100 studies shows that consistent minorities are influential(counter - prone to bias as it is longitudinal research)

Flexibility takes into account real life situations/variables e.g. jury decisions

Lab experiment - highly controlled

Question 11

Issues and debates for minority influence

Answer 11

Gender bias

Uses 172 females