Minority influence

Question 1

what are some strengths of minority influence

Answer 1

• research support for consistency
• research support for flexibility

Question 2

what research supports consistency

Answer 2

Moscovici

Question 3

what did Moscovici find

Answer 3

• he asked participants to say the colour of some slides out loud which were all a shade of blue, in the consistent condition confederates said all slides were green and in the inconsistent condition they said some were green
• found a consistent minority had a greater effect on theothler participants than the inconsistent minority

Question 4

what do Moscovici findings show

Answer 4

show that consistency is a major factor in increasing minority influence

Question 5

what research support flexibility

Answer 5

Nemeth

Question 6

what did Nemeth find

Answer 6

participants had to decide on compensation for a ski accident victim and he found a minority that wanted to offer a low rate but compromised had a greater effect than one that refused to change their position at all

Question 7

what do Nemeth findings show

Answer 7

shows that flexibility is a major factor in increasing minority influence and that a minority seen as unreasonable will have no effect on people

Question 8

what are some limitations of minority influence

Answer 8

• research supporting it has a low ecological validity
• research supporting it broke ethical guidelines

Question 9

what research supporting minority influence has a low ecological validity and why

Answer 9

• Moscovici’s task was artificial so had a low mundane realism and did not reflect real life examples of minority influence
• in political campaigning or jury making decisions the outcomes are significantly more important and can be a matter of life or death
• findings lack ecological validity and do not tell us much about how minority influence works in real-world situations

Question 10

what research supporting minority influence broke ethical guidelines

Answer 10

• Moscovici deceived participants as they were told they were taking part in a vision test and not in a study investigating minority influence
• therefore, he did not get fully informed consent

Question 11

counter argument for Moscovici breaking ethical guidelines

Answer 11

it was needed to reduce the probability of demand characteristics and to make results more accurate