Minority Influence

Question 1

Define minority influence.

Answer 1

Refers to when 1 person has the ability to influence behaviour and beliefs of other people.

Question 2

Which type of conformity is minority influence most likely to lead to?

Answer 2

Internalisation

Question 3

What research method did Moscovici use?

Answer 3

Lab experiment

Question 4

What experimental design did Moscovici use?

Answer 4

Independent measures

Question 5

Moscovici’s study used groups of how many women?

Answer 5

6

Question 6

How many PPTs in Moscovici’s study overall?

Answer 6

172

Question 7

How many confederates and real PPTs were in the groups used in Moscovici’s study?

Answer 7

2 confederates 4 real PPTs

Question 8

What did PPTs have to do in Moscovici’s study?

Answer 8

PPTs to view a set of 36 blue coloured slides which varied in intensity and state whether they were blue or green.

Question 9

In the first group, confederates said all slides were greed. What percentage of real PPTs agreed?

Answer 9

8.42%

Question 10

In the 2nd group, real PPTs saw an inconsistent minority where confederates said green 24/36 of the time. What percentage of real PPTs agreed?

Answer 10

1.25%

Question 11

In the 3rd group, there were no confederates. PPTs got the answer wrong what percentage of the time?

Answer 11

0.25%

Question 12

What is consistency?

Answer 12

Not changing viewpoint, which increases interests of people over time.

Question 13

What is synchronic consistency?

Answer 13

The whole minority says the same thing.

Question 13

What is diachronic consistency?

Answer 13

When the minority holds the same viewpoint for a long period of time.

Question 13

What is commitment?

Answer 13

Engaging in extreme activity that could pose a potential risk to show dedication to your viewpoint.

Question 14

Why do minorities use commitment?
What is this principle called?

Answer 14

To draw attention to their view and grab peoples interest.
This is called the augmentation principle.

Question 14

What is flexibility and why is it used?

Answer 14

Prevents minority from being viewed as rigid which would lead to majority paying less attention. Used to balance consistency.

Question 15

Why must the minority be prepared to adapt their viewpoints?

Answer 15

As a compromise.

Question 15

What is deeper processing?

Answer 15

Where people start consider the views of the minority and change their opinions.

Question 16

What is the snowball effect?

Answer 16

More people gradually start to convert their viewpoints to the minority and soon the minority becomes the majority. (Like a snowball getting bigger as it rolls through snow)

Question 17

Explain the strength of there being research support for the importance of consistency as a factor in minority influence.
Use the example of Moscovici’s study and how agreement with the minority changed when they were inconsistent.

Answer 17

For example, Moscovici’s study supports consistency because when the minority said all of the slides were green, agreement with the minority group was much higher at 8.42%, compared to when there was an inconsistent minority where agreement fell to 1.25%. These studies suggest that presenting a consistent view is a major factor for a minority group when trying to influence a majority.

Question 18

Explain the strength of there being research support for deeper processing.
In Martin’s study, one group heard a minority agree with a viewpoint and another group heard a majority agree. What did he measure about PPTs?
When PPTs were presented with a conflicting view, how did their attitudes and opinions change?
How is minority view converted to majority and how does this support minority influence?

Answer 18

Robin Martin presented PPTs with a viewpoint and measured their agreement. One group heard a minority group agree with the initial view while another group heard the majority agree. PPTs were then exposed to a conflicting view and attitudes were measured again. People were less willing to change their opinions when they had listened to a minority then a majority. This suggests that the minority message had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect, supporting how minority influence works

Question 18

Explain the limitation of us not fully understanding the power of the minority influence.
What are the issues with agreement with the minority in Moscovici’s study being 8.42%
How did agreement with the minority change when PPTs gave answers in private? Why might this have happened?
What does this suggest about the power of the minority?

Answer 18

In Moscovici’s study, the figure for agreement with a consistent minority was low at 8.42%, suggesting minority influence is quite rare. However, when PPTs gave answers in private, they were more likely to agree with the minority view. It appears that members of the majority were convinced by the minority’s argument, but were reluctant to admit this publicly. Moscovici thought that this was because they didn’t want to be associate with the minority as they feared that they would appear as weird. Overall, this means that the power of the minority may be greater than we expect.

Question 18

Explain the limitation of studies on minority influence having low mundane realism.
How do tasks apply to real life?

Answer 18

The tasks used, for example, in Moscovici’s study are artificial and have no real relation to everyday life. This means that research is far removed from everyday life and may not apply to a real setting. This suggests that findings from minority research influence lack external validity and are limited when explaining minority influence in real life.