Minority Influence

Question 1

When does minority influence occur?

Answer 1

Minority influence occurs when persuasive small groups, or even individuals, can change the way the majority behaves and thinks. This is known as minority influence. Moscovici (1985) considered minority influence to lead to conversion. Conversion is when individuals change their private beliefs and views because of minority influence.

Question 2

How do minorities be convincing

Answer 2

They need to be:
Committed - commitment is shown when the members of the minority demonstrate their dedication to their belief, for example by making a sacrifice (augmentation principle) or by taking risks or being inconvenienced in some way. This shows that minority isn’t acting out of self interest
Consistent - consistency occurs when the minority repeatedly give the same message over time. Making the majority reassess their belief and consider the issue more carefully
Flexible - flexibility is being non dogmatic and willing to listen to other viewpoints other than their own. This will make the majority take their argument more seriously

Question 3

What is the snowball effect?

Answer 3

Minority influence initially has a small` effect, but then spreads as more and more people consider the issue being raised and are converted to the minority. Eventually it reaches a tipping point, where the minority becomes the majority. This is known as the snowball effect.

Question 4

What is socio crypto amnesia?

Answer 4

Minority influence is such a slow process, even unconscious at times. Sometimes the individual is not even aware of where the new idea originated from. This is socio crypto amnesia

Question 5

strenghts minority influence

Answer 5

+ Moscovici told 172 female participants that they were taking part in a colour perception task. The naïve participants were placed in groups of 6 with 2 confederates. They were shown 36 slides of different shades of blue. Participant had to state out loud the colour of each slide. In the consistent condition, confederates said the slide was green on all 36 slides. In the inconsistent, they said 24 were green and 12 were blue. In consistent, the minority swayed the majority 8.2% of the time whereas in the inconsistent, they went along with the minority 1.25% of the time. Showing that a consistent minority is a more effective minority

Question 6

weaknesses minority influence

Answer 6

• samples into minority influence are gender bias. Moscovici used only women so we game t generalise the findings of minority influence into males. Research has indicated that women are more conformist than men. Further research needs to be done on men to see the effect of minority influence on male participants
• samples in minority influence studies are culturally biased. All from America. Can’t generalise findings to other cultures, assuming they’d respond the same way to minority influence.
• Most studies into MI have been conducted in a lab. Questions the ecological validity. Participants are normally people who don’t know each other and will probably never meet again
• Studies into MI have been criticised for deception. Participants thought they were doing a perception test, therefor they also lack informed consent. However despite being unethical, the experiment required deception in order to achieve valid results. If told the true aim of the experiment, the participants may have displayed demand characteristics and acted differently.