minority influence Flashcards
1
Q
what is minority influence?
A
- refers to situations where one person/small group influences beliefs/behaviour of other people
- distinct from conformity (majority doing influencing)
- most likely to lead to internalisation
2
Q
what are the three main processes in minority influence?
A
- consistency
- commitment
- flexibility
3
Q
what is commitment?
A
- minority must demonstrate commitment to their views/cause
- sometimes minorities engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to their views
- important these extreme activities present some risk to minority - shows greater commitment
- majority group members pay even more attention - augmentation principle
4
Q
what is consistency?
A
- minority must be consistent in their view - overtime increases amount of interest from other people
- can take form of agreement between people in minority group (synchronic - all saying same thing) and/or diachronic consistency - been saying same thing for some time now
- consistent minority makes other people start to rethink own views
5
Q
what is flexibility?
A
- nemeth argued onsistency not only important factor in minority influence - can be off-putting
- if seen as dogmatic + rigid - minorities may not be persuasive
- members of minority need to be prepared to adapt their pov + accept reasonable + valid counterarguments
- they key is to strike a balance between consistency + flexibility
6
Q
how does the process of change happen as done by the three processes of minority influence?
A
- if you hear something new - think more deeply about it - especially is source of this view consistent, committed + flexible
- this deeper processing - important in process of conversion to different minority view
- increasing numbers of people switch from majority position to minority position - become ‘converted’ - called ‘snowball effect’ - minority view has become majority + change has occurred
7
Q
evaluate minority influence
A
8
Q
what is research support for consistency?
A
- moscovici et al’s 1969 blue/green slide study
- ptp’s shown 36 slides clearly different shades of blue + asked to state each slide out loud
- group of 6 people - each group 2 conf said green - 8.42
- other group inconsistent - fell 1.25 agree green
- found in consistent majority had bigger effect on majority views compared to inconsistent
9
Q
what can back up moscivici?
A
wood et al carried out meta-analysis of almost of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities seen as being consistent most influential
10
Q
what is research to support deeper processing?
A
- martin et al - presented message supporting particular viewpoint + measured ptp’s agreement
- one group heard majority agree, other heard minority group agre
- ptp’s finally exposed to conflicting view + attitudes measured again
- people less willing to change if listened to minority - suggests minority message more deeply processed + more enduring effect - supporting central argument of minority influence
11
Q
what is a counterpoint to deeper processing?
A
- real-world social influence situations much more complicated like majorities often have lots of power and status
- minorities are very committed to their causes due to hostile opp
- such features usually absent from minority influence research - minority simply smallest group
- may lack ecological validity
12
Q
how is the true power of minority influence a drawback of it?
A
- moscovici et al figure for agreement with a consistent minority very low on average being 8%
- minority influence may be quite rare and not a useful concept
13
Q
what is a methological drawback of moscovici?
A
- artificial task, lacks ecological validity
- changing an opinion on colour is not as impactful as political opinion
- mundane realism cannot be applied to real life situations unknown whether people would act similarly in day to day life
14
Q
what is social change?
A
- change that happens in a society and not an individual level
- minorities can change the positions of members of the majority via consistency, flexibility + commitment
15
Q
what are the social change processes?
A
- drawing attention
- consistency
- deeper processing
- augmentation principle
- snowball effect
- social cryptomnesia
16
Q
what is social cryptomnesia?
A
- happens after societal change
- individuals who previously held old view refuse to admit they held the now unpopular view/resisted the new view
- do not give credit to minorities who changed society
17
Q
what is deeper processing
A
deeper processing of issue - think deeply - cognitive conflict
18
Q
what is the augmentation principle?
A
personal risk indicating strong belief + reinforces (or augments) their message
19
Q
what is the snowball effect
A
- when members of majority slowly convert to minority
- but as minority grows attracts new members faster - until grows so large now the majority
20
Q
how did asch show conformity to lead to social change? how is NSI used to lead to this?
A
- highlighted importance of dissent in unanimity variation when one conf gave correct answer throughout
- broke power of majority - encouraging others
- such dissent potential to lead to social change
- environmental + health campaigns exploit conformity processes by appealing to NSI - do this by providing info about what others are doing
- social change encouraged by drawing attention to what majority are doing
21
Q
how do milgram and zimbardo show how obedience (or lack of) can lead to social change?
A
- milgram - demonstrates importance of disobedient role models
- in variation where conf teacher refuses to give shocks to learner - rate of obedience in genuine ptps plummeted
- zimbardo - suggested obedience can lead to social change through process of gradual commitment - once small instruction obeyed - becomes much more difficult to resist bigger one - people essentially ‘drift’ into a new kind of behaviour
22
Q
evaluate social change
A
-
23
Q
what is research support for normative influences impact on social change?
A
- research has shown social influence processes based on psychological research do work
- nolan et al aimed to see if they could change people’s energy-use habits
- hung messages on front doors of houses every week for a month message was most residents trying to reduce their energy uses
- as control some residents had different message that just asked them to save energy - no reference to others
- significant decreases in energy usage in first group compared to second
- shows conformity can lead to social change through NSI - valid explanation
24
Q
what is a counterpoint to nolan’s et al research on NSI being a valid influence on social change?
A
- some studies show people’s behaviour not always changed through exposing them to social norms
- foxcroft et al reviewed social norms interventions - included 70 studies where social norms approach used to reduce student alcohol use
- researchers only found small reduction in drinking quantity + no effect on frequency - seems NSI does not always produce long-term social change
25
Q
how is the ability to explain a strength of minority influences’ affect on social change?
A
- psychologists can explain how minority influence brings about social change
- nemeth claims social change due to type of thinking minorities inspire - when people consider minority arguments - engage in divergent thinking - type of thinking broad rather than narrow (thinker searches for info + weighs opts)
- nemeth argues leads to better decisions + more creative solutions to social issues
- shows why dissenting minorities valuable - stimulate new ideas + open minds in a way majorities cannot
26
Q
what is a limitation of deeper processing when it comes to social change?
A
- may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change
- mackie disagrees + presents evidence that it is majority influence that may create deeper processing if you do not share their views
- when you find out a majority believes something different - forced to think long and hard about their arguments + reasoning
- means central element of minority influence challenged - casting doubt on its validity as an explanation of social change
