minority influence Flashcards
minority influence definition
a form of social influence in which a minority of people (sometimes just one person) persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well s public behaviours
consistency definition
minority influence is the most effective of the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over time and between all the individuals that form the minority. consistency is effective because it draws attention to the majority view
commitment definition
minority influence is more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position, for example by making personal sacrifices. this is effective because it demonstrates the minority is not acting out of self-interest
flexibility definition
relentless consistent could be counterproductive if it seen by the majority as unbending and unreasonable. therefore minority influence is more effective if the minority show flexibility by accepting the possibility of compromise
what does minority influence refer to
situations where one person or a small group of people influences the beliefs and behaviour of other people. this is distinct from conformity when the majority id doing the influencing (conformity is sometimes called majority influence). the people being influenced may be one person or a small or large group of people.
what does minority influence lead to
internalisation as both public and private beliefs are changed by the process
who did blue slide, green slide study
Moscovici et al
when did Moscovici et al do blue slide green slide study
1969
Moscovici et al procedure - consistency
demonstrates minority influence by a group of 6 people asked to view a set of 36 coloured slides that varied in intensity and state if the slides were blue or green. in each group there were 2 confederates who consistently said the sildes were green
Moscovici et al consistency variation findings
true participants gave the wrong answer of green on 8.42% of trails (agreed with confederates)
Moscovici et al inconsistent minority variation procedure
-second group of participants was exposed to an inconsistent minority as confederates said green 24 times and blue 12 times
Moscovici et al inconsistent minority variation results
agreement to green answer fell to 1.25%
Moscovici et al control group procedure
had no confederates and all participants had to do was identify colour of each slide
Moscovici et al control group findings
wrongly identified slides wrong on 0.25% of trials
what Moscovici et al’s study draw attention to
3 main processes in minority influence
what are the 3 main processes in minority influence
-consistency
-commitment
-flexibility
how is consistency used in minority influence
minority must be consistent with their views. overtime, consistency increases the amount of interest from other people
2 types of consistency
-synchronic consistency
-diachronic consistency
synchronic consistency
agreement between people in minority group (all saying the same thing)
how does consistent minority influence majority
makes other people rethink their own views
diachronic consistency
consistency over time (been saying same thing for some time now)
how is commitment used in minority influence
-minority must demonstrate commitment to cause or views. some minorities engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views. it is important that these extreme activities present some risk to minority because it shows their commitment
how does commitment of minority influence majority
majority group members pay more attention this is called augmentation principle
how is flexibility used in minority influence
Nemeth 1986 argued that consistency is not the only important factor in minority influence because it can be off putting. someone who is extremely consistent, who simply repeats same old arguments and behaviour over and over again may be seen as rigid, unbending and dogmatic. this is unlikely to convert many to minority position. instead, members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counterarguments, the key is to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility
how does the 3 factors of commitment. consistency and flexibility achive minority influence
make people think about minority’s view or cause. hearing something you already agree with doesn’t make you stop and think. but if you hear something new, you might then think more deeply about it, especially if this view is committed, consistent and flexible
how does deeper processing achieve minority influence
deeper processing is important in the processes of conversion to a different, minority viewpoint. over time, increasing numbers of people switch from the majority position to the minority position this is called conversion
snowball effect
the more conversion happens, the faster the rate of conversion. gradually the minority view ahs become the majority and change ahs occurred
strength of minority influence - research support for consistency
-research evidence demonstrating the importance of consistency
-Moscovici et al blue green slide study showed a consistent minority opinion had a grater effect on changing the views of other people than an inconsistent opinion. Wood et al 1994 carried out a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found the minorities who were seen as consistent were the most influential –> suggests that presenting a consistent view is a minimum requirement for a minority trying to influence a majority
strength of minority influence - research support for deeper processing
-evidence showing that a majority’s position does involve deeper processing of the minority’s ideas
-Martin et al 2003 presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured participant’s agreement. one group of participants then heard a minority group agree with it. participants were finally exposed to a conflicting view and attitudes were measured again. people were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to a minority group than if they has listened to a majority group –> suggests that the minority message had been more deeply processes and how a more enduring effect, supporting the central argument about how minority influence works
limitation of minority influence - counterpoint to research support for deeper processing
-research studies such as Martin et al’s make clear distinctions between the majority and the minority. doing this in a controlled way is a strength of minority influence research. but real-world social influence situations are much more complicated. for example, majorities usually have a lot more power and status than minorities. minorities are very committed to their cause - they have to be because they often face very hostile opposition. these features are usually absent from the minority influence research - the minority is simply the smallest group –> therefore Martin et al’s findings are very limited in what they tell us about minority influence in real-world situations
limitation of minority influence - artificial tasks
-task involved are artificial (often just as artificial as Asch line judgement task)
-this included Moscovici et al’s task of identifying the colour of a slides. research is therefore far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life. in cases such as jury decision-making and political campaigning, the outcomes are vastly more important, sometimes even a matter of life or death –> means findings of minority influence studies are lacking in external validity and are limited in what they can tell us about how minority influence works in real-world social situations
evaluation of minority influence -power of minority influence
-Moscovici et as study, the figure for agreement with a consistent minority was very low, on average only 8%. this suggests that minority influence is quite rare and not a useful concept
-but when participants wrote down their answers privately, they were more likely to agree with the minority view. this suggests that the view expressed by other people in public was just the ‘tip of the iceberg’
Moscovici et al sample
172 American females
