Minority influence

Question 1

what does minority influence require?

Answer 1

• individual to reject majority behaviours/ beliefs and convert to the minority
• attempt to change views through informational social influence= internalisation

Question 2

what is the snowball effect?

Answer 2

• starts as a slow process
• the more people that pick up the minority view the faster the process speeds up
• minority view improves acceptability

Question 3

3 behaviours that need to be adopted to convert to a minority belief:

Answer 3

• consistency
• commitment
• flexibility

Question 4

how does consistency affect minority influence?

Answer 4

• minorities need to show they are confident in their view
• if they repeat the same message over time, the argument seems more powerful

Question 5

how does commitment affect minority influence?

Answer 5

• if they are willing to suffer for their views but still hold them
• the majority if more likely to take them seriously= augmentation principle

Question 6

how does flexibility affect minority influence?

Answer 6

• if u are completely inflexible
• lose the ability to be persuasive
• need to appear to consider counter arguments and slightly compromise

Question 7

Evaluative research support: Moscovici- commitment blue slides

Answer 7

• groups of 4 pp and 2 confederates shown 36 slides diff shades of blue in 2 diff conditions
• 1st= consistent minority said the slides were green
• 32% gave the same answer as a minority in at least one trial
• wrong answers given 8.4% of the time
• compared to 1.25% when the minority was inconsistent

Question 8

Evaluative research limitation: Moscovici- commitment blue slides

Answer 8

• 68% of pp never agreed with the minority
• some people are perceptive to minority groups

Question 9

Evaluative research strength: Nemeth- flexibility ski lift accident

Answer 9

• 3 pp and 1 confederate in 2 conditions
• 1st= minority showed inflexibility didnt change from a low compensation payment for a victim of a ski lift accident
• 2nd= showed flexibility by raising his offer slightly
• in flexible more likely to lower their compensation level closer to confederates offer

Question 10

Evaluative research limitation: Nemeth- flexibility ski lift accident

Answer 10

• experimental research so the situation is not real
• no money would actually be paid
• questions the external validity of the stduy

Question 11

Evaluation strengths: real- world examples

Answer 11

• many minorities have caused social change because of minority influence
• gay rights movement
• suffragettes
• stayed consistent and sometimes suffered
• eventually gained the social change they wanted