Minority influence

Question 1

what is minority influence?

Answer 1

-situations when small group of people influence beliefs of the majority = internalisation

Question 2

what is the main study and main man

Answer 2

• moscovici

- green side, blue side study

Question 3

explain the green side, blue side study?

Answer 3

-showed minority influence
-6 people asked to view 36 different coloured slides
-each group had 2 confederates =said slides were green
group 1: in 2/3rd of trials gave same wrong answer =8.5% of trials pp gave same wrong answer
-group2: inconsistent minority=1.25%
-last group had no confederates and got wrong answer on 0.25% of trials

Question 4

explain consistency?

Answer 4

• over time consistency, increases amount of interest

- people rethink their own views

Question 5

explain commitment?

Answer 5

-minorities may engage in extreme activities to draw attention
-demonstrates their commitment
-majority pays attention
=augmentation process

Question 6

explain flexibility

Answer 6

• extreme consistency is off putting + inflexible
• majority may not want to engage
• minority need to adapt their points to be reasonable

Question 7

explain the process of change?

Answer 7

• when hearing something new, we think about it
• especially when speaker seems passionate
• this is deeper processing meaning sometimes majority become minority

Question 8

what are the 3 evaluation points?

Answer 8

• research supports consistency
• research supports depth of thought
• limitations of artificial tasks

Question 9

evaluate research supports consistency

Answer 9

STRENGTH

• moscovici showed consistent minority had greater effect on others than inconsistent opinion
• suggests consitancy is a major factor

Question 10

evaluate research supports depth of thought

Answer 10

STRENGTH

• research (martin et al) gave pp’s a message supporting a viewpoint and measured support
• had pp’s listen to views from minority that agreed with them
• another group listened to the majority that agreed with their message
• then they were exposed to conflicting views and levels of support were again measured
• found that people were LESS willing to change views if they had listened to a minority and more willing to change opinions if they had listened majority
• shows deeper processing, supports how minority influence works

Question 11

evaluate research supports artificial tasks

Answer 11

WEAKNESS

• involved identifying the colour of a slide
• artificial and cannot be generalised to real life
• lacks external validity

Question 12

what is social cryptoamnesia

Answer 12

• memory change occurs but they don’t know it happened

eg. smoking indoors feels like it was banned in the 90’s but it was 2007

Question 13

what are the steps of minority influence?

Answer 13

1. draw attention w/commitment
2. consistency/flexibility
3. deeper processing
4. snowball effect
5. social cryptoamnesia