minority influence

Question 1

minority influence

Answer 1

• form of social influence where a minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes / behaviours
• leads to internalisation or conversion
• e.g: Suffragettes, Martin Luthor King , London 2011 riots

Question 2

Moscovici et al (1969): procedure

Answer 2

• group of 6 people had been asked to view 36 blue slides that varied in shades (had to say if they were blue or green)
• each group had 4 ppts & 2 confederates
• consistent experimental group: confederates said slides were green
• inconsistent experimental group: confederates called the slides green on 2/3 of the trials & 1/3 said blue
  control: said they were all blue

Question 3

Moscovici et al (1969): findings

Answer 3

• consistent: ppts influenced by minority 8.42% & 32% influenced on at least 1 trial
• inconsistent: ppts influenced by minority on 1.25% of the trials
  control: ppts that got the colour wrong on just 0.25% of the trials

Question 4

Moscovici et al (1969): evaluation

Answer 4

• real-life application
• artificial task
• controlled

Question 5

processes in minority influence: consistency

Answer 5

• consistency increases the amount of interest from others
• synchronic: all saying the same thing
• diachronic: saying the same thing for some tim

Question 6

processes in minority influence: commitment

Answer 6

• sometimes minorities engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views
• important that they are extreme as it shows commitment
• augmentation principle: makes the majority pay attention

Question 7

processes in minority influence: flexibility

Answer 7

• Nemeth (1986): argues that being extremely consistent & repetition of the same - arguments can be seen as rigid and inflexible
  minorities need to be prepared to adapt their pov & accept reasonable and
• valid counter arguments
  need a balance between consistency & flexibility

Question 8

AO3: research support for consistency

Answer 8

• Moscovici et al (1969): consistent condition had greater effect than inconsistent
• Wood et al (1994): meta-analysis of 100 similar studies to Moscovici’s
• found that consistent minorities are more influential
  consistency is a major factor

Question 9

AO3: research support for depth of thought

Answer 9

• Martin et al (2003):
  gave ppts message about a particular view and measured support
  
  • group 1: heard minority agree
  • group 2: heard it from a majority
• then exposed to a conflicting view & attitudes measured again
• people were less willing to change their opinion in group 1
• proves that the minority message had been more deeply processed & had more enduring effects

Question 10

AO3: artifical task

Answer 10

• Moscovici & Wood et al, Martin et al : lacks external validity
• they don’t tell us bout real-life situations of minority influence (social change , juries etc)

Question 11

AO3: research support for internalisation

Answer 11

• in a variation of Moscovici study: pps wrote their answers down rather than saying them out loud
• private agreement with the minority was greater
  the majority was convinced but reluctant to publically admit
• Moscovici said that this may be due to not wanting to be associated with a minority for the fear of appearing radical

Question 12

AO3: limited application

Answer 12

• social situations in real life are more complex
  ( majorities usually have more power & status)