Minority Influence

Question 1

Which study measured minority influence?

Answer 1

Moscovici (1969)

Question 2

What was the aim of the colour judging study?

Answer 2

He wanted to see if a consistent minority could influence a majority to give the incorrect answer

Question 3

What was the procedure of the colour judging study?

Answer 3

• 172 female participants were given 36 slides to look at
• All slides were blue but they were asked whether they thought it was blue or green
• Participants were tested for colour blindness and then allocated to a consistent, inconsistent or control group
• Each group consisted of 4 naive participants and 2 confederates
  Consistent: confederates described all 36 slides as green
  Inconsistent: confederates described 24/36 slides as green
  Control: there were no confederates
• Minority influence was measured by % of naive participants yielded to the confederates by called the slides green

Question 4

What were the findings of the colour judging study?

Answer 4

Consistent condition: 8.4% yielded to majority view
Inconsistent condition: 1.25% yielded to majority view
Control condition: 0.25% yielded to majority view

Question 5

What is the conclusion of the colour judging study?

Answer 5

• Minority influence is more effective when minority is consistent

Question 6

What are some criticisms of the colour judging study?

Answer 6

• Research lacked experimental realism: this means that the experimental set up was not believable
  The side test was artificial and may have yielded demand characteristics
  It may also be argued to lack internal validity as the conversion was not a genuine effect
• Research lacks mundane realism:

Question 7

What are the 3 aspects that are important in minority influence?

Answer 7

Consistency
Commitment
Flexibility

Question 8

What is consistency?

Answer 8

Minority must be consistent in their views
- Sychronic consistency: they’re all saying the same thing
- Diachronic consistency: they’ve all been saying the same thing for some time
A consistent minority makes the majority rethink their views

Question 9

What is commitment?

Answer 9

Augmentation principle - they engage in extreme activities to show their commitment to the cause

Question 10

What is flexibility?

Answer 10

Minority need to be flexible in order to be persuasive
E.g the suffragettes agreed to stop their protests during WW1

Question 11

Research support for minority influence - AO3 ✅

Answer 11

• Nemeth (1986) created groups of 3 participants and 1 confederate
• They had to decide how much compensation to pay a victim of a ski lift accident
• When the confederate refused to change his amount, he had no effect on the majority
• However, when he compromised and changed his amount to higher, the majority changed their opinion to the lower amount

Question 12

Colour judging study lacked population validity - AO3 ❌

Answer 12

Moscovici only used female participants in his colour judging study
it’s argued there is evidence that women are more concerned about social relationships than men, this may mean than women are more conformist

Question 13

Artificial tasks - AO3 ❌

Answer 13

• It’s argued that the tasks involved, such as colour judging, are very artificial
• This is different to how minority attempt to influence majority in real life, such as jury decision making
• The outcomes in real life are more impactful and Moscovici’s study cannot be generalised to such situations