MINORITY INFLUENCE

Question 1

MINORITY INFLUENCE

Answer 1

• refers to situations where one person or a small group of people influences the beliefs and behaviours of the majority
• diff from conformity (majority influence)
• in both cases, the ppl being influenced may be just 1 person, a small group or a large group
• MI most likely to lead to INTERNALISATION

Question 2

MOSCOVICI (1969)

Answer 2

• 6 people asked to view a set of 36 blue slides that varied in intensity and then state whether the slides were blue or green
• in each group, 2 confederates consistently said the slides were green on 2/3 of the trials.
• ppts gave the same wrong answer on 8.42% of the trials
• 32% gave the same answer as the minority on at least one trial
  2nd group = exposed to INCONSISTENT minority - agreement fell to 1.25%
  3rd group = no confederates (CONTROL). only got 0.25% wrong answers

Question 3

CONSISTENCY

Answer 3

• over time, consistency in the minority’s views increases the interest from others
• consistency may be:
• agreement between people in the minority group (SYNCHRONIC CONSISTENCY= all saying the same thing)
• consistency over time (DIACHRONIC CONSISTENCY = been saying the same thing for some time now)
• makes people start to rethink their own views

Question 4

COMMITMENT

Answer 4

• minorities engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to their views
• may be at some risk to the minority - demonstrates commitment to the cause
• majority pays even more attention –> AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE

Question 5

FLEXIBILITY

Answer 5

NEMETH (1986) argued that consistency = not only important factor –> can be interpreted NEGATIVELY
- being extremely consistent and repeating the same arguments and behaviours again and again can be seen as RIGID, UNBENDING and INFLEXIBLE.
- off-putting to majority and unlikely to result in any conversions to the minority
- minority need to be prepared to ADAPT their POV and accept reasonable and valid counter-arguments
- key = strike a BALANCE between consistency and flexibility.

Question 6

PROCESS OF CHANGE

Answer 6

• hearing something new makes you think about it, especially if the source is consistent and passionate
• this deeper processing is important in the process of conversion to a minority viewpoint
• over time, increasing no. of people switch from majority –> minority.
• the more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion
• SNOWBALL EFFECT
  gradually, the minority view becomes the majority.

Question 7

AO3: RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR CONSISTENCY

Answer 7

• MOSCOVICI’s study showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion
  WOOD ET AL(1994) carried out a meta-analysis of 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were consistent = most influential
• suggests consistency = major factor in minority influence

Question 8

AO3: ARTIFICIAL TASKS

Answer 8

• identifying colour of a slide = as artificial as Asch’s line judgement take
• research = therefore far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life
• in cases such as jury decision making and political campaigning, the outcomes are castyl more important, sometimes a matter of life or death
• findings of MI studies (Moscovici) LACK EXTERNAL VALIDITY & are limited in what they can tell us about how minority influence works in real-life social situations

Question 9

AO3: LIMITED REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS

Answer 9

• research studies usually make a very clear and obvious distinction between the minority and majority
• being able to do this in a controlled way = strength of research
  SIGNIFICANT LIMITATION = real-life social influence are much more complicated than this –> more involved in the difference between minority and majority than just numbers
• minorities are more committed to their causes due to them facing hostile opposition
• they can be tight-knit groups whose members know each other very well and turn to each other for support –> research conducted with strangers