MINORITY INFLUENCE

Question 1

What is MINORITY INFLUENCE?

Answer 1

• type of social influence

- motivates individuals to reject established majority group norms

Question 2

What type of social influence is MAJORITY INFLUENCE and what speed does it have effect?

Answer 2

• normative or informational influence

- fast

Question 3

What type of social influence is MINORITY INFLUENCE and what speed does it have effect?

Answer 3

• informational influence

- slow

Question 4

What behaviours make a MINORITY GROUP more effective?

Answer 4

• consistent
• committed
• flexible

Question 5

What is CONSISTENCY?

Answer 5

-minority keep consistent beliefs and attitudes to influence majority

Question 6

What is the difference between INTRA-INDIVIDUAL consistency and INTER-INDIVIDUAL consistency?

Answer 6

INTRA=individuals in minority keep consistent view over time

INTER=agreement of views among individuals in minority

Question 7

What is COMMITMENT and why is it important?

Answer 7

• suggests certainty, confidence and courage
• commitment and sacrifices
• makes majority take them more seriously

Question 8

What is FLEXIBILITY and what did MUGNY (1982) suggest?

Answer 8

• minority group makes adjustments with their ideas to be more persuasive
• too committed seen as dogmatic
• too flexible seen as inconsistent which means less influence

Question 9

What is the process of MINORITY to MAJORITY Influence?

Answer 9

• consistency, commitment, flexibility
• snowball effect
• social crypto amnesia

Question 10

What is the role of CONSISTENCY, COMMITMENT and FLEXIBILITY in minor influence?

Answer 10

• make minority argument more persuasive
• commitment draws attention to minority view
• consistency and flexibility used to show truth and value of minority position

Question 11

What was MOSCOVICIS aim?

Answer 11

• whether a consistent minority could influence a majority

- to give incorrect answer in colour perception task

Question 12

What was MOSCOVICIS procedure?

Answer 12

• 172 females told it was colour perception task
• In groups of 6, 4 ppts 2 confederates
• shown 36 slides in varying shades of blue
• had to state colour out loud
• consistent condition said all slides were green
• inconsistent condition said 24 were green and 12 were blue

Question 13

What were MOSCOVICIS findings?

Answer 13

• consistent condition ppt agreed on 8.2% of trials

- inconsistent condition ppt agrees on 1.25% of trials

Question 14

What are MOSCOVICIS conclusions?

Answer 14

• consistent condition was 6.95% more effective

- shows consistency is an important factor in minority influence

Question 15

What is a weakness of MOSCOVICIS study? (1)

Answer 15

• used a bias sample of 172 females from America
• unable to generalise to other genders
• research suggests females more likely to conform
• more research need to determine effect of MI on men
• lacks population validity

Question 16

What is a weakness of MOSCOVICIS study?

Answer 16

• deceived his ppt by telling them it was a perception test
• he did not gain fully informed consent
• although unethical to deceive ppt it was needed to achieve valid results
• if ppt aware of true aim they would have displayed demand characteristics and acted differently

Question 17

What is support for FLEXIBILITY?

Answer 17

NEMETH (1986)

• ppt in groups of 4 decide how much compensation to give ski victim
• one ppt was confederate who suggested extremely low amount of money
• if confederate was flexible and moved money amount, ppt more likely to reduce amount
• if confederate not flexible ppt less likely to

Question 18

Who provided support for CONSISTENCY?

Answer 18

MOSCOVICI ET AL (1969)

Question 19

What is THE SNOWBALL EFFECT?

Answer 19

• members of majority move towards minority
• minority grows and picks up momentum so more majority members convert to minority
• minority grows into snowball so large it becomes majority

Question 20

What is SOCIAL CRYPTO AMNESIA?

Answer 20

• society forgets the source of the message
• accepts minority views without too much disruption of social order
• minority views becomes integral part of society