Minority influence Flashcards
1
Q
What is minority influence?
A
- A form of social influence in which one person or a small group of people (minority) persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes etc
» leads to internalisation or conversion
2
Q
How does minority influence occur?
A
Through 4 processes
- consistency
- commitment
- flexibility
- deeper processing/snowball effect
3
Q
What is consistency and why is it effective?
A
- When the minority keeps the same beliefs (synchronic consistency) over time (diachronic consistency) between all members that make up the minority e.g. women’s rights movement has maintained message since the 1840s
- draws attention to the minority view
4
Q
What is commitment and why is it effective?
A
- When the minority demonstrates dedication to their position, this is can be shown in extreme ways which may post a risk (augmentation principle) e.g. hunger strikes
- It shows that the minority are not acting out of self- interest & majority members pay even more attention
5
Q
What is flexibility and why is it effective?
A
- Nemeth- consistency may put majority off, arguments may be seen as rigid and unbending
- Members of the minority must be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept valid counter arguments
- Increases the likelihood of conversion if the minority are prepared to be open and accept possibility of a compromise
6
Q
What is conversion?
A
Involves the majority internalising the attitudes of the minority
7
Q
Explaining the process of change (deeper processing & snowball effect)
A
- if hear something new it forces you to think more deeply about it especially if the source of this is C,C,F
- this deeper processing is important in the process of conversion to a different minority viewpoint
- The more this happens= faster rate of conversion= snowball effect
- minority view becomes majority view
8
Q
What is a strength of minority influence?
A
- research to support for importance of consistency
- Moscovi’s blue/ green slide study> Group of 6 people asked to view a set of 36 blue coloured slides that varied in intensity
- had to state whether they were blue or green
- there were 2 confederates who said the slides were green
- found that naïve participants gave the same wrong answer on 8.4% of the trials
- consistencies had a greater effect
- compared to agreement on ‘green’ in the inconsistent group which was 1.25% > consistent view is required
9
Q
What is a counterpoint of Moscovici study for research support?
A
- artificial tasks- Moscovici study
- Identifying the colour of a slide lacks mundane realism
- not an accurate representation of how minorities attempt to change the behavior of majorities in real life
- in cases such as jury decision-making & political campaigning outcomes are more important
- lack external validity & limited
10
Q
What is a another strength of minority influence?
A
- research to support role of deeper processing
- Martin et al> presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint & measured p’s agreement
-1 group then heard minority agree with initial view & another group heard majority agree with initial view - p’s exposed to a conflicting view & attitudes were measured again > found that p’s were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to the minority group than majority group
- suggest the minority message had been deeply processed & internalised >had a more enduring effect - increases validity of the role of deeper processing
11
Q
What is a counterpoint for the research support for the role of deeper processing?
A
- Real world social influence situations are more complicated.
- e.g. majorities usually have a lot more power & status than minorities
- Minorities are very committed to their causes because they often face very hostile opposition.
- These features are usually absent in minority influence research as the minority is simply the smallest group.
- limited
