Minority influence

Question 1

what is minority influence ?

Answer 1

Where members of the majority group change their beliefs or behaviours as a result of their exposure to a persuasive minority

Question 2

what are the three behaviours a minority must show in order to influence a majority ?

Answer 2

Consistency, commitment, flexibility

Question 3

what is consistency ?

Answer 3

Minority influence is most effective if the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over time and between all the individuals that form the minority. It’s effective because it draws attention to the minority view

Question 4

what is commitment ?

Answer 4

when the majority is confronted with someone with self-confidence and dedication to take a popular stand and refuses to back own, they may assume that he or she has a point

Question 5

what is flexibility ?

Answer 5

To not seem dogmatic, rigid or unbending. Able to adapt

Question 6

what is the snowball effect ?

Answer 6

‘Social cryptoamnesia’ this is where gradully more people convert to the minority, turning it into the majority.
E.G Women’s rights to vote
Gay rights

Question 7

what did Moscovici et al (1969) focus his study on ?

Answer 7

Consistency

Question 8

what did the participants have to do in Moscovici’s procedure ?

Answer 8

192 participants had to judge the colour of 36 slides with the brightness of the colour blue varied

Question 9

how many confederates were in Moscovici’s procedure ?

Answer 9

Two of 6 in each group

Question 10

what was the difference between the three conditions in Moscovici’s procedure ?

Answer 10

In one condition the confederate called all 36 slides green and in another condition they called 24 of the slides green and 12 of the slides blue. There was then a control group which contained no confederates

Question 11

what did Moscovici find in condition one his study ?

Answer 11

Participants in the consistent condition yielded and called the slides green in 8.4% of the trials

Question 12

what did Moscovici find in condition two in his study ?

Answer 12

Participants in the inconsistent condition yielded and called the slides the in only 1.3% of the trials

Question 13

Moscovici’s study in terms of generalisability

Answer 13

Lacks generalisably because the study is gender bias so we don’t know weather males will be easily influence like females

Question 14

Moscovici’s study in terms of validty

Answer 14

Lacks validity because participants may respond to demand characteristics

Question 15

Moscovici’s study in terms of reliability

Answer 15

Good reliability because it is a lab experiment

Question 16

strenght of minority influence

Answer 16

P: research support for consistency
E: Moscovici who found that when confederates influenced participants that the squares were green, they yielded 8.4% of the time whereas when they were inconsiderate participants only yielded 1.3% of the time
E: This is important because it shows how consistency does have an effect on the majority
L: Therefore, this gives the theory of consistency validity.

Question 17

limitation of minority influence

Answer 17

P: lacks ecological validity
E: Moscovici’s task involved identifying the colour of a slide. This is an issue because it is not reflective of how minorities attempt to influence majorities in real life situations
E: Furthermore, the results may have been influenced by demand characteristics as the participants may have guessed the aim
L: Therefore, the research is limited in how much it can tell us about minority in real life situations.