Minority influence Flashcards
What is minority influence?
A form of social influence, in which the minority persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours
What type of conformity does minority influence lead to?
Internalisation
Who researched minority influence?
Moscovici
What was Moscovici’s blue-green slide study and what were his findings?
- 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%
What are the 3 factors that affect minority influence?
- Consistency
- Commitment
- Flexibility
What are synchronic and diachronic consistency?
- Synchronic= everyone says the same thing
- Diachronic= everyone has been saying the same thing for a while now
What is consistency?
People’s tendency to behave in a manner that matches their past decisions/behaviours
What is commitment?
Showing dedication to something
What is the augmentation principle?
Thinking, which leads to a deeper change
What is flexibility?
Being prepared to adapt one’s point of view and accept counterarguments
What did Nemeth argue about consistency?
- Consistency can be off-putting
- May be seen as rigid, unbending and dogmatic
- So flexibility is important
Why is consistency important in minority influence?
- Minority must have consistent views
- Makes people begin to rethink their views
- Over time, consistency increases the amount of interest from others
Why is commitment important in minority influence?
- Minority must develop commitment
- Extreme activities draw attention to their views
Why is flexibility important in minority influence?
- Minority members must be prepared to adapt their views
STRENGTH-
I- Research support for consistency
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
STRENGTH-
I- Research support for deeper processing
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
LIMITATION-
I- Limited findings
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
LIMITATION-
I- Artificial tasks
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
Evaluation Extra-
I- Power of minority influence
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
