minority influence Flashcards
what is minority influence? what does it lead to?
form of social influence in which a minority of people (sometimes just one person) persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changes as well as public behaviours.
what is social change?
a whole society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm
what are 3 factors which enhance the effectiveness of a minority?
- consistency
- commitment
- flexibility
what is consistency?
a minority must be stable in their opinion over time and there must be agreement among the members of the minority.
what is commitment?
a minority must be dedicated to their cause. the greater their dedication, the greater their influence.
what is flexibility?
although a minority must be consistent they must show a willingness to compromise when expressing their opinions.
supporting evidence - commitment
nelson mandela - put lots of hard work/time/effort into spreading beliefs - went to prison and regardless of suffering he continued fighting for the cause
supporting evidence - flexibility
nemeth - in inflexible condition minority had little/no effect on the majority whereas in the flexible condition the majority was much more likely to compromise
supporting evidence - consistency
moscovici - shows that the more consistent the minority (estimating green) the more influence they have on the majority
what was the aim of moscovici’s study?
to see if a consistent minority can influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task
what was moscovici’s method?
- 172 female participants were told they were taking part in an experiment on colour perception
- 6 participants at a time were asked to estimate the colour out loud, of 36 slides (which were all different shades of blue)
- 2 of the 6 participants were confederates
- there were 2 conditions:
C1 - consistent 2 confederates called the slides green on all trials
C2 - inconsistent 2 confederates called the slides green 24 times and blue 12
what were moscovici’s results?
participants in the consistent condition were influenced by the minority as they called the slides green on 8.4% of trials compared to 1.3% in the inconsistent condition.
