Minority Influence Flashcards
Define minority influence.
When a small group of people or even an individual changes the attitudes, behaviours & beliefs of the majority
(opposite of conformity where the majority are the ones influencing others to join them)
Mooscovici (1969) found there were three main processes of minority influence, what are these?
- Consistency
- Commitment
- Flexibility
Why is consistency important when in comes to minority influence?
When people first exposed to a minority with a differing view, they assume the minority is in error.
If minority adopt a consistent approach, others come to reasses situation & consider issue more carefully
What are the two types of consistency that get used?
Synchronic consistency: They’re all saying the same thing
Diachronic consistency: They’ve been saying the same thing for a long period of time
Why is commitment important when it comes to minority influence?
Minority needs to show dedication to position e.g. by making personal sacrifices- shows they are not acting out of self interest & draws even more attention to their views making majority rethink theirs
Making sacrifices gives minority’s message credability because people are unlikely to beprepared to suffer for a cause not worthwhile
What is the argumentation principle within commitment?
Tendancy for the demonstrations of commitment to gain attention and convince others of the cause
i.e ‘making sacrifice will make people go ‘wow she must really believe in whats shes saying perhaps i ought to consider her view’
Why is flexibility important when it comes to minority influence?
Becuase minority’s are typically powerless compared to the majoirty, must negotiate their position within the majority rather than trying to enforce it.
So they dont seem unreasonable- majority opinions shifts more if minority is flexibe
What was the snowball effect- Turners 3 steps to power?
- A number of likeminded people come together to form minority group
- Group influences others around them by presenting ideas & encouraging others (Moscovicis behaviour styles)
- Group slowly gains more authority & grows in number- becoming the majority
(then obedience & conformity come into play)
What was the procedure for Moscivici’s minority influence study?
Ppts were all females (thought the would enjoy task)
Put into groups of 6 to idenntify colours
- Control group- all naive ppts
- Experimental group 2 of the 6 were confederates
- Ppts were shown 36 blue sides with differences in brightness of colour & were asked if they were blue or green
- Consistent group: the 2 confederates always said ‘green’
- Inconsistent group: 2/3rd of the times the two confederates said green & on the remaining one third of trials called the slide blue
- Control group: Compromising 6 naive ppts & no confederates, ppts called slides blue throughout
What were Moscovici’s findings?
Consistent minority influenced the naive ppts to say ‘green’ on over 8% of trials & the ppts answering green
Inconsistent condition it was -only 1.25%
Control condiditon- only 0.25%
Conclusion: Minority can influence the majority
Give research support for consistency
(evaluation- one strength)
OS is research evidence demonstrating importance of consistency.
Moscovicis study showed a consistent opinion had greater effect on changing views of other people than inconsistent opinion
Wendy Wood carried out meta analysis of 100 similar studies & found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential
Give one disadvantage of minority influence research
Tasks involved are often artifical. Includes Moscovicis study-identifying colour on a slide
Research is far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life
Give a stength for minority influence research (deeper processing)
OS: Evidence showing that a change in the majority’s postition involves deeper processing of the minoritys ideas.
Researchers gave participants a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured their support. One group of ppts heard a minority agree with the initial view while another group heard from a majority group. Ppts were finally exposed to a conflicting view and attitudes were measured again.
Found that people were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to a minority group rather than if they were shared with a majority group.
