Minority Influence

Question 1

Consistency

Answer 1

• Synchronic consistency- People in minority all share the same view.
• Diachronic consistency- Holding same view for long time.

Question 2

Commitment

Answer 2

• Augmentation principle, increase of interest from majority group. Minority takes some risk to show commitment.

Question 3

Flexibility

Answer 3

• Being able to comprise some demands to show they are willing to be lenient in order to get what they want, making them more likely to influence others.

Question 4

Moscovici- Study 1

Answer 4

• 32 groups of 6 US women. Each group had 4 pps and 2 confederates. They were showed 36 slides and asked to identify the colour.
  3 conditions:
• No pressure to conform- 0.25% answered green.
• Inconsistent 24/36 slides ‘green’- 1.25% conformed.
• Consistent 36/36 ‘green’- 8.42% conformed
  The minority changed the majorities view to say ‘green’ when they were in fact ‘blue’ when the message was consistent.

Question 5

Moscovici- Study 2

Answer 5

• 32 groups of 6 US women. Each group had 4 pps and 2 confederates. They were showed 36 slides and asked to identify the colour.
• Write answers down instead of saying aloud.- Resukts were just as likely to conform as study 1.
• Study 2 shows that minority conformity is internalisation.

Question 6

Moscovici evaluation support- Consistency important for minority influence

Answer 6

• Support that consistency is important for minority influence.
• Ev- Moscovici findings.
• Ex- Showed consistency of minority message has greater impact on others than an inconsistent minority. The more consistent the message the higher the conformity to the minority.
• However, the study is gynocentric, as he only studied women and generalised to all genders. The findings from those women mean that 68% still conformed to the majority.

Question 7

Moscovici evaluation criticism- Did not consider difference between in groups and out groups

Answer 7

• Criticism is Moscovici didn’t consider the difference between ingroups and outgroups.
• Ev- 68 14yr old Uk students gave attitudes for ‘loan for pupils’ before and after reading some text supporting a minority view. In public the minority ingroup influenced greater than outgroup. In private, outgroup matched ingroup minority conformity.,
• Ex- Suggests that whether you identify with the group or don’t affects the influence that a minority has. This was not considered in Moscovici. He assumed that the consistency of a message was the most important factor and ignore the role of identification with minority group.
• However, this has culture bias and sample bias, and can only generalise 14yr old students. They may be more influenced by minorities than adults and less affected by ingroups/outgroups.

Question 8

Moscovici evaluation criticism- Also flexibility in minority influence

Answer 8

• Criticism of Moscovici is there’s not only consistency but flexibility in minority influence.
• Ev- Mock jury. 3 pps and 1 confederate. Decide amount of compensation for ski jet accident. When confederate did no change compensation to low amount, neither did the majority. When confederate changed compensation slightly, so did the majority.
• Ex- When minority not flexible and did not compromise, majority didn’t change views, when minority did adapt their view, majority willing to change views, supports idea that flexibility is important for minority influence.
• However, same lack of ecological validity as all studies mentioned. All studies measure immediate minority influence.

Question 9

Social change

Answer 9

• Drawing attention to issue.
• Cognitive dissonance - deeper thinking.
• Consistency of message.
• Augmentation principle - minority takes risks to further the cause.
• Snowball effect - small group converts others, over time becomes majority view.
• Social crypto amnesia - loss of memory of the event leading to the change.

Question 10

Social change evaluation criticism- social change is gradual

Answer 10

• Criticism is that social change is gradual.
• Ev- Suffragette movement took 7yrs to change women’s rights to vote. Took another 10yrs to remove age restriction to vote at 30yrs old.
• Ex- Therefore, minority influence and social change is harder to create permanence than assumed. There is resistance from the majority, easier to go with ‘status quo’ than change.
• However, supports snowball effect being gradual thus creating social crypto amnesia. Therefore, not criticism of theory, but support of importance of diachronic consistency.

Question 11

Social change evaluation criticism- less likely if minority group considered ‘deviant’

Answer 11

• Criticism is social change is less likely if the minority group is considered ‘deviant’.
• Ev- Terrorists (ISIS) trying to create change in Syria. Through augmentation effect such as suicide bombing.
• Ex- Because this is a deviant group creating harm to others and themselves to create social change. Minority influence is slower and drives social change underground.
• However, these situations are extreme and highly antisocial, in fact, there are many occasions in real life when positive social change has occurred.

Question 12

Social change evaluation support- social norm interventions have had positive results

Answer 12

• Support is social norm interventions have had positive results in creating social change.
• Ev- Montana drink driving. After correcting misconceptions about the amount of people that drink drive, it reduces by 1.4%.
• Ex- This shows that drawing attention and creating cognitive dissonance in the general public, creates a way for social change. The fact the campaign worked proves importance of cognitive dissonance.
• However, social norms intervention can have a ‘boomerang’ effect. People who already have desirable behaviour can be negatively influenced (as may be perceived as the norm).