Minority Influence Flashcards
When does minority influence occur
When very persuasive small groups / individuals can change the way the majority behaves and thinks.
What did Moscovici (1985) think minority influence leads to
Conversion
-> this is when individuals change their private beliefs & views because of minority influence
Minority groups are most likely to be convincing when they are what 3 factors
- committed
- consistent
- flexible
Why is commitment important (minority influence)
Commitment is show when members of the minority demonstrate their dedication to their belief, either by taking risk / being inconvenienced some way, or by making sacrifices (augmentation principle)
-> this shows that the minority isn’t acting out of self interest
Why is consistency important (MI)
Consistency occurs when the minority repeatedly gives the same message over time
-> this makes a majority reassess their belief and consider the issue more carefully
Why is flexibility important (MI)
This is when a minority shows that they are willing to listen to other viewpoints
- the majority will then listen to the minority point of view & take them more seriously
What is the snowball effect
This is when minority influence spreads more, and as more people consider the issue being raised, more & more are converted to the minority viewpoint
What is social crypto-amnesia
When an individual isn’t even aware of where the new idea originated from, as MI is a slow process, which may even be unconscious
MI (+) - female colour perception task (Moscovici - 1969) method
- 172 female participants told they were taking part in a colour perception task
- placed in groups of 6, & shown 36 slides, with varying blue shades
- 2/6 pp’s = confederates
- pp’s had to state out loud the colour of each slide
MI (+) - female colour perception task (Moscovici - 1969) results
- consistent condition = confederates said slide was green in all 36 trials
-> 8.2% of pp’s were swayed by minority - inconsistent = said slide was green in 24, and that 12 were blue
-> 1.25% of pp’s were swayed
Showed that a consistent minority is more effective than an inconsistent one
(-) about Moscovici (1969) MI study
- gender biased
Only used women so we can’t conclude that men would respond the same way + research suggests that women are more likely to conform than men, so further research needed
(-) about Moscovici (cultural bias)
- all pp’s from America, so findings can’t be generalised to other populations
Moscovici (-) & other MI studies (lack of ecological validity)
- most are lab experiments
- therefore most pps don’t know each other
- real life is a bit different, so ecological validity not there
Moscovici (1969) (-) ethical issues
- deception about what the study was really about
- therefore a lack of informed consent
- therefore unethical
But it was required to get rid of risk of demand characteristics
Research support for commitment- xie et al 2011
Xie et al. (2011) discovered a ‘tipping point’ where the number of people holding a minority position is sufficient to change majority opinion. In fact Xie found that you
need about 10% of the minority population to influence the majority.
support for flexibility
: Nemeth (1986)
Nemeth 1986:
-> pps. in groups of four, had to agree on the amount of compensation they would give to a victim of a ski-lift accident. One of the participants in each group was a confed and there were two conditions: When the minority argued for a low rate ot compensation and retused to change their position (inflexible. 2) When the minonty argued for a low rate of compensation but compromised by offering a slightly higher rate of compensation (flexible).
Results: Nemeth found that in the inflexible condition, the minority had little or no effect on the majority, however, in the flexible condition, the majority members were much more likely to also
compromise and change their view.
