Minority influence

Question 1

What is minority influence?

Answer 1

A form of social influence, in which the minority persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours

Question 2

What type of conformity does minority influence lead to?

Answer 2

Internalisation

Question 3

Who researched minority influence?

Answer 3

Moscovici

Question 4

What was Moscovici’s blue-green slide study and what were his findings?

Answer 4

• Group of 6 asked to identify colour of 36 blue) slides
• 2 confederates in each group, who consistently said slides were green
• Participants gave the same wrong answer on 8.42% of trials
• Group 2- inconsistent minority- agreement to wrong answer fell to 1.25%

Question 5

What are the 3 factors that affect minority influence?

Answer 5

• Consistency
• Commitment
• Flexibility

Question 6

What are synchronic and diachronic consistency?

Answer 6

• Synchronic= everyone says the same thing
• Diachronic= everyone has been saying the same thing for a while now

Question 7

What is consistency?

Answer 7

People’s tendency to behave in a manner that matches their past decisions/behaviours

Question 8

What is commitment?

Answer 8

Showing dedication to something

Question 9

What is the augmentation principle?

Answer 9

Thinking, which leads to a deeper change

Question 10

What is flexibility?

Answer 10

Being prepared to adapt one’s point of view and accept counterarguments

Question 11

What did Nemeth argue about consistency?

Answer 11

• Consistency can be off-putting
• May be seen as rigid, unbending and dogmatic
• So flexibility is important

Question 12

Why is consistency important in minority influence?

Answer 12

• Minority must have consistent views
• Makes people begin to rethink their views
• Over time, consistency increases the amount of interest from others

Question 13

Why is commitment important in minority influence?

Answer 13

• Minority must develop commitment
• Extreme activities draw attention to their views

Question 14

Why is flexibility important in minority influence?

Answer 14

• Minority members must be prepared to adapt their views

Question 15

STRENGTH-
I- Research support for consistency

Answer 15

D- Moscovici’s study showed a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on changing views of others than an inconsistent minority. Wood et al carried out a meta-analysis of 100 similar studies, and found consistent minorities were more influential
E- Suggests a consistent view is a minimum requirement for minority influence

Question 16

STRENGTH-
I- Research support for deeper processing

Answer 16

D- Martin et al presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured participants; agreement. One group heard majority agree with initial view, other group heard minority agree. Exposed to conflicting view. People less willing to change opinions if they listened to minority group
E- Suggests minority messaged had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect

Question 17

LIMITATION-
I- Limited findings

Answer 17

D- Studies may distinctions between minority and majorities. Real-world social influence situations are more complex. Majorities have more power and status. Minorities are committed to causes- face hostile opposition. Features usually absent from research
E- Martin’s findings are very limited- unrealistic

Question 18

LIMITATION-
I- Artificial tasks

Answer 18

D- Moscovici’s tasks of identifying colour of a slide is far removed from how minorities attempt to change behaviour in real life. In cases (i.e. jury decision-making and political campaigning)- outcomes more important
E- Means findings lack external validity

Question 19

Evaluation Extra-
I- Power of minority influence

Answer 19

D- Minority influence is rare, only generating a change of view 8% of the time, meaning it may not be a useful concept to explain the majority of SI. However, when answers were written down, more people were influenced, perhaps due to a fear of being associated with radical/weird minority views
E- Findings suggest that although minority influence is relatively unusual, it is a valid form of social influence