Minority influence Flashcards
What is Minority of influence
Form of social influence that leads to the majority converting their beliefs, values, or behavior to match the minority.
Factors
Consistency
Commitment
Flexibility
Consistency
Most effective when the minority keeps the same beliefs both over time and between all the individuals of that minority.
Effective as it draws attention to the minority view and may get the majority to reassess the situation and rethink their own views.
Commitment
It is more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position, cause or activity eg.making personal sacrifices.
Flexibility
Shows that by being flexible they are willing to listen and adapt their point of view.
This makes the ability more sympathetic to their cause and more likely to be seen as potential danger for serious change.
Research into minority- Mischovi et al: Aim
To investigate if a constant minority can influence the majority in an unambiguous situation
Miscovici et al: Procedure
32 groups
6 women
2 confederates
4 participants in each group
Shown 36 slides in different hues and asked what colour they were
Constant condition: confederates said green on all
Inconsistent condition: answered green on 24 trials and blue on 12 trials
Miscovici et al: findings
Constant minority: 8.42%
Inconsistent minority: 1.25%
No confederates : 0.25%
Miscovici et al: Conclusion
Suggests that although the minority does not have a numerical advantage, and the effect isn’t huge, a consistent behavioural style makes it significantly more influential than being inconsistent.
Support research for flexibility
Supporting the idea that flexibility together with consistency aid minority influence.
Nemeth (1986) created group of three participants and one confederate who had to decide how much compensation to pay a victim of ski lift accident.
Limitations
Lacking external validity
Lacks ecological validity as it took place in a lab therefore we can’t generalise.
Lacks population validity as it was only female undergraduates and this is a biased sample