Minority Influence

Question 1

Define minority influence

Answer 1

• members of the majority change behaviour and beliefs due to minority influence

Question 2

Define 3 factors of minority influence

Answer 2

Consistency:
- a minority need to keep the same beliefs between all members over a long
period of time to influence then majority

Commitment:
- The minority should show dedication and make personal sacrifices to influence the majority as it shows greater commitment

Flexibility:
- a minority should be flexible by considering counter arguments and coming up with a compromise to influence a majority – so they do not appear too rigid

Question 3

Moscovici et al (1969)

Answer 3

• Demonstrated that when a minority show consistency it is more likely to influence the majority than when the minority are inconsistent.
• 172 females in a laboratory experiment who had to state whether slides were blue or green (the minority of confederates were either consistent or inconsistent).
• It was found that when the minority consistently reported that the slides were green the majority conformed in 8% of occasions.
• Whereas if the minority were inconsistent and sometimes reported the slide were blue it was down to (1%)

Question 4

R2S- consistency from minority influence

Answer 4

P- conducted by moscovici et al
E- 2 confeds sat with majority group of 6 ppts, they were shown blue slides that differed in intensity and had to state the colour
E- when the minority consistently called the blue slides green, ppts gave the same wrong anser 8% of the time. However when the minority inconsistently called the blue slides green, agreement fell to 1%.
L- this therefore supports the notion that consistency is important when a minority is influencing a majority

Question 5

Weakness of consistency

Answer 5

P- lacks mundane realism
E- used an unrealistic task of stating the colour of a slide
E- therefore it is difficult to generalise the findings to explain how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life social situations where the outcome are more important, e.g a minority may be less influential in a jury setting when deciding upon a verdict for a serious crime - which could be potentially life threatening.
L- thus, lowering external validity of research

Question 6

R2S- flexibility

Answer 6

P- comes from Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987)
E- created a mock jury situation to decide on the amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in a ski lift accident. When a confed put forward an alternative pov and refused to change his position, this had no effect on other group members.
E- however, a confed who compromised did have an influence on the rest of the group.
L- therefore as the confed was flexible in his opinion, he was able to change majority opinion. This supports the idea that flexibility is an important factor of MI