Minority influence Flashcards
define minority influence
-one person or a small group of people influences the behavior and beliefs of the majority.
-They persuade others to adopt their beliefs which leads to internalisation (publicly and privately agree) with the minority view
Who conducted a study on the factors affecting minority influence?
Moscovici 1969
What was the procedure of Moscovici’s study?
(include all 3 conditions)
172 ppt tested to ensure not colour blind
-in a group of 6 (4 ppts and 2 confederate) ppt asked to state colour of slides of all diff shades of blue
Condition A- conf were consistent saying all slides were green
Condition B- conf were inconsistent saying 24 slides were green and 12 were blue
Control group- no conf present and ppts stated colours of slides
What was the point in Moscivici having a control group?
to ensure it was the minority influence that was leading to different answers of colour and not a different variable
What were the findings of the 3 conditions in moscivicis study?
Condition A (consistent)- ppt answered green in 8.5% of trials and 32% answered green on at least 1 slide
Condition B (inconsistent)- ppts answered green in 1.25% of trails
Control group- only 0.25% of ppts report any green slides
What can we conclude from Moscivici’s study?
Minorities can influence majorities.
-Minority influence is strongest when the minority is consistent with their views but when they’re inconsistent with them, they’re less influential
When Moscivici later researched, what did he highlight the importance of?
- Consistency
- Commitment
- Flexibility
Define consistency
- making sure your message is clear
- you don’t deviate from the message you give.
-This includes consistency among the group and over time
What are the 2 types of consistency
Synchronic consistency
Diachronic consistency
Define Synchronic consistency
The whole group is consistent with each other
Define Diachronic consistency
An individual stays consistent over time
Define Commitment
Showing dedication to your opinion through some form of personal sacrifice to show the minority view (augmentation principle)
Define flexibility
Listening to other people’s opinions or counter-arguments and aren’t rigid (flexible) in your reasoning.
-Balance between consistency and flexibility to show compromise to not put people off
What is the process of change in minority influence
-For the minority influence to be effective they need to make people think about the issue and rethink their decisions.
-This requires deep processing and over time more people switch from the majority to the minority view point
What is the snowball effect?
The more people that switch from the majority to minority viewpoint, the faster the rate of conversion (others will do this)
What may be the reason people haven’t changed their opinion to the minority?
Because they often conform to the majority as a result of group pressure and the need to be liked
-eventually the minority will become the majority and a social change will occur
Give a researcher who supports that consistency is important in minority influence
Wood - supporting research
What did wood do? how is it a strength of the minority influence?
- Did a meta-analysis of over 100 studies of minority influence.
-It suggested that consistency as a key part of minority influence is valid
-This increases the validity of Moscovici’s study as other researchers agree with the findings so we can trust it more
When researching minority influence, artificial tasks are often used. Why is this a limitation?
-eg. Moscovicis tasks were artificial and real-life situations would be more complicated
- in real life, it’s not just the number of ppts that matter as the majority group often has more power and control
-this suggests that Moscovicis study lacks mundane realism proving its not an effective way of showing true minority influence
What could be a counter point to the limitation that Moscovici used artificial tasks
In real life, if minorities never had an impact society wouldn’t ever change its views.
-We know society has changed its views before so because of this we can clearly see that despite not having control, minorities are able to influence behaviour
Why is it hard to measure how much of an impact the minority has on the majority?
-People may agree with the minority but are too reluctant to change their viewpoints and admit it as they feel group pressure and the need to be liked
-Moscovici found higher agreement with the minority group when ppts were asked to write the slide color on paper
Why is it a limitation that its hard to measure how much of an impact a minority has on the majority?
-limitation as its hard to test how much of an influence a minority is actually having and to validate how much consistency, commitment, and flexibility are affecting the minority’s influence.
-This can lead to false/inaccurate data in research
