Minority influence Flashcards
What is minority influence?
A form of social influence where members of a majority group change their beliefs or behaviours as a result of their exposure to a persuasive minority.
What must a minority be to bring about social change?
Consistent, committed and flexible.
What is commitment?
Degree to which the minority are dedicated to a particular cause or activity. Greater perceived commitment leads to greater influence.
What is consistency?
Degree to which a minority’s position stays stable over time. Includes agreement between members of the minority.
What is flexibility?
Degree to which the minority is willing to compromise when expressing a position.
Who investigated minority influence?
Moscovici et al.
How did Moscovici et al. investigate minority influence?
4 naïve Ps, 2 confederates (minority). Shown series of blue slides that varied in intensity only. Asked to judge colour of each slide.
What conditions were used to assess minority influence?
Consistent - confeds always said ‘green’.
Inconsistent - confeds said ‘green’ in 2/3 of the trials
Control - 6 naïve Ps, called them blue throughout.
What did Moscovici et al. find?
Consistent - 8%
Inconsistent - <2%
Control - 0%
(AO3) What is a positive RWA of minority influence?
Explains to minority groups how to bring about social change. Helps push women’s right, equality, strike action for pay rises etc. However, majority normally has the position of power, so more than CCF may be needed.
(AO3) What is a key methodological issue with Moscovici et al.’s study?
Lack of mundane realism. Unrealistic tasks. Much more simple than real minority influence situations. Other factors in real environment may be just as important. Lacks ecological validity.
(AO3) What is the tipping point in minority influence?
Point at which the minority influence holds enough credibility to change the majority’s position. Xie et al. found it to be just 10% of a population need to be committed opinion holders. Causes snowball effect.
(AO3) I can’t think of another one, so let’s talk about culture.
Minority influence studies conduced in Western societies. Difficult to apply elsewhere. Collectivist cultures. Less likely to conform to minority as they value the group over the individual. May see minority as threat to majority. Study not applicable here.
