Minority Influence

Question 1

Who conducted RTS?

Answer 1

Moscovici et al

Question 2

What did Moscovici do?

Answer 2

Two confederates sat with a majority group of 6 participants, and they were shown blue slides that differed in intensity and had to state the colour

Question 3

What did Moscovici find?

Answer 3

When the minority consistently called the blue slides green, ppts gave the same wrong answer 8% of the time, however when the minority group inconsistently called the blue slides green, it fell to 1% - consistency as important

Question 4

What does Moscovici’s research lack?

Answer 4

Mundane realism due to the artificial task of stating the colour of a slide

Question 5

What does Moscovici’s research lacking mundane realism make it difficult to do?

Answer 5

It is difficult to generalise the findings to explain how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life situations where the outcomes are more important e.g a minority may be less influential in a jury setting when deciding upon a verdict for a serious crime which could be life threatening - lowering the external val

Question 6

Where does further RTS come from?

Answer 6

Nemeth and Brilmayer

Question 7

What did Nemeth and Brilmayer do?

Answer 7

They created a mock jury situation to decide on the amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in a ski-lift accident

Question 8

What did Nemeth and Brilmayer find?

Answer 8

When a confederate put forward an alternative point of view and refused to change their position, this had no effect on other group members however one who compromised did have an influence - supports flexibility