Minority Influence Flashcards
define minority influence
form of social influence - in which a minority of people persuades others to adopt their beliefs/attitudes/or behaviours
leads to internalisation or conversion - private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours
define consistency
minority influence is most effective if minority keeps all the same beliefs
both over time and between the individuals in the minority
consistency is effective as it draws attention to minority views
define commitment
minority influence more powerful if minority demonstrates dedication to their position
e.g. by making personal sacrifices
this is effective as it shows the minority is not acting out of self interest
define flexibility
relentless consistency could be counter productive if it is seen by the majority as unbending an unreasonable
therefore, minority influence is more effective if the minority show flexibility by accepting the possibility of compromise
what does minority influence refer to?
situations where one person or a small group of people (minority) influences the beliefs and behaviour of other people
distinct from conformity where the majority is doing the influencing - thus called majority influence
what is minority influence likely to lead to?
internalisation
both in public behaviour and private beliefs are changed in the process
who first studied this process?
Serge Moscovici in his ‘blue slide green slide’ study
this study and others have drawn attention to three main processes in minority influence
consistency increased the amount of interest from other people - what are the two ways it can take place?
synchronic consistency and diachronic consistency
what is synchronic consistency?
they are all saying the same thing
what is diachronic consistency?
they have been saying the same thing for some time now
what does a consistent minority do to people?
it makes others start to rethink their own views
‘maybe they have got a point’
what do minority groups do to show commitment?
sometimes they engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to their views
it is important that these activities present some risk to the minority because this shows the greater commitment
what does commitment do?
majority group members pay even more attention
this is called the augmentation principle
what did Charles Nemeth argue 1986?
that consistency is not the only important influence as it can be off putting
someone who is extremely consistent and repeats the same old arguments and behaviours may be seen as rigid and unbending
this on its own is unlikely to gain many converts to the minority position
what should members of the minority be prepared to do?
they should be prepared to adapt their point of view and reasonable and valid counter arguments
what is the key?
to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility
what is important to the conversion?
deeper processing
over time, increasing numbers of people switch from the majority position to the minority position
they have become ‘converted’
what is the snowball effect?
like a snowball gathering snow as it rolls, the faster the rate of conversion, gradually the minority view becomes the majority view and change has occurred
what is a strength for consistency?
there is research evidence which demonstrates the importance of consistency
what is the research evidence which supports the importance of consistency?
Moscovici’s blue green slide study
it showed that a consistent opinion had a greater effect on changing the views of other people than inconsistent opinion
what did wendy wood 1994 do?
she carried out a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies
she found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential
what does this suggest?
that presenting a consistent view is a minimum requirement for a minority trying to influence a majority
what is another strength?
is evidence showing that a change in the majority’s position does involve deeper processing of the minority’s ideas
what did Robin Martin 2003 do?
he presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured participants’ agreement
what happened in this study?
one group of participants then heard a minority group agree with the initial view while another group heard a majority group agree with it
participants were then exposed to a conflicting view - attitudes were measured again
what were the findings of the study?
people were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to a minority group than if they had listened to a majority group
what does this suggest?
that minority message had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect
supporting the central argument about how the minority influence works
what is a counterpoint of this strength?
research studies - such as Martin’s , make clear distinctions between the majority and minority
doing this in a controlled way is a strength of minority influence
but real world social influence situations are much more complicated
give an example of how real world social influence is more complicated?
majorities usually have a lot more power and status that minorities
minorities are very committed to their causes (because they often face very hostile opposition)
these features are usually absent from minority influence research - the minority is simply the smallest group
therefore how useful are Martin’s research?
very limited, in what they can tell us about minority influence in real world situations
what is a limitation of minority influence research?
the task’s involved are often just as artificial as Asch’s line judgement task
this includes Moscovici’s task of identifying the colour of a slide
therefore, research for minority influence is?
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 vastly more important
so what does this mean?
that findings of minority influence studies are lacking external validity and are limited in what they can tell us about how minority influence works in real world social situations
