minority influence Flashcards
What is minority influence?
A form of social influence in which a minority of people persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. It leads to internalisation
Explain Moscovici’s study
A group of 6 pps were shown 36 ppt slides that were shades of blue or green. They had to state what colour they thought the slide was. In each group there were 2 confederates who consistently said the slides were green. The true pps gave the same wrong answer on 8.42% of the trials.
A second group of pps were exposed to an inconsistent minority which gave some right some wrong answers, and in this case, agreement fell to only 1.25%.
Explain consistency
The minority must be consistent in their views. Over time, this consistency increases interest from other people. It can take the form of synchronic consistency, where the group agree to keep the same belief or diachronic consistency, where the minority keep the same belief for a long period of time. A consistent minority makes other people rethink their views and attracts more attention.
Explain commitment
The minority must demonstrate commitment to their cause or views. This may involve the minority making personal sacrifices or engaging in extreme activities to draw attention to their views. It is importantly that these pose a risk to the minority as it shows greater dedication. This making the majority pay more attention. This is the augmentation principle.
Explain flexibility
Some psychologists argue that consistency isn’t the only important factor in minority influence as it can be off putting. Someone who is extremely consistent can be seen as unreasonable and too rigid. This is likely to cause people to stop listening to the minority. Therefore, the minority needs to be able to adapt their point of view and accept counter arguments
Explain the snowball effect
When the majority experience deeper processing of the minority’s ideas, it can lead to conversion to a minority viewpoint. Over time, increasing numbers of people switch from the majority to the minority. The more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion. Gradually the minority view becomes the majority
What is a strength of minority influence? (Research support for consistency)
One strength is research evidence demonstrating the importance of consistency. Moscovici’s blue/green slide study showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on changing the views of other people than an inconsistent minority. 8.42% of trials agreed with the consistent minority compared to 1.25% agreeing with an inconsistent minority. This is a strength because it suggests that presenting a consistent view is a minimum requirement for a minority to be successful and influence a majority.
What is a strength of minority influence? (Research support for deeper processing)
One strength is evidence showing that a change in the majority’s position does involve a deeper processing of the minority’s ideas. A study was conducted in which a message supporting a particular viewpoint was presented to participants and their level of agreement was measured. One group was then exposed to a minority group agreeing and the other group heard a majority agree with it. Then, pp’s were exposed to a conflicting view and level of agreement was measured again. People were less willing to change their opinions if they had heard the minority group agree to the original view. This is a strength as it suggests that the minority message had been more deeply processed which supports the explanation as to now minority influence.
What is a limitation of minority influence? (Artificial tasks)
One limitation of minority influence research is that the tasks involved are often artificial , including moscovici’s slide study. Research is far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life. In scenarios such as being part of a jury, decisions often result in life or death, not getting the colour wrong. This is a limitation as it means that findings of minority influence studies are lacking in external validity
