Minority Influence

Question 1

Three factors required for minority influence

Answer 1

• Consistency
• commitment
• flexibility

Question 2

Moscovici et al (1969)- consistency

Answer 2

-172 participants
Method- participants asked to estimate the colour of 36 slides.
-all slides were blue but of different brightness
- two of the 6 participants were actors
-there were two conditions: consistent actors who said they were green and inconsistent who called some green some blue.
Found- 32% conformed to the consistent group at least once
-1.3% conformed to the inconsistent at least once

Question 3

Rosa Parks- commitment

Answer 3

Rosa refused to move from the white section of the bus. She knew she would be arrested and that was the sacrifice she made to convince people of her equal rights message.

Question 4

Flexibility- Nemeth (1986)

Answer 4

Groups of 3 participants and 1 confederate who had to decide how much compensation to give someone of a ski lift accident.
Found- when the the confederate wasn’t flexible with the low amount and refused to change his position, he had no effect on the majority. But when he was flexible they paid a lower amount

Question 5

The snowball effect

Answer 5

• people join due to informational social influence
• it starts to snowball
• the minority becomes a majority
• people then join due to normative social influence