Minority influence

Question 1

What is minority influence?

Answer 1

Minority influence is a form of social influence in which a minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. This leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours.

In other words, one person or a small group of people influence the beliefs and behaviour of other people.

Question 2

How does minority influence contrast conformity?

Answer 2

Conformity, which can also be referred to as majority influence, involves the majority doing the influencing. This therefore contrasts minority influence where a small group of people are responsible for influencing others.

Question 3

Which type of conformities minority influence likely to result in?

Answer 3

Minority influence is most likely to lead to internalisation because both public behaviour and private beliefs are changed by the process.

Question 4

Which psychologist first studied the process of minority influence?

Answer 4

Serge Moscovici first studied the process of minority influence.

Question 5

Which study was used by Moscovici to investigate minority influence?

Answer 5

Moscovici studied this process in his ‘blue slide, green slide’ study. This study and other research have drawn attention to the main processes in minority influence.

Question 6

In what year did Moscovici conduct his ‘blue slide, green slide’ study?

Answer 6

1969

Question 7

Briefly outline how Moscovici used his ‘blue-slide, green-slide study’ to investigate minority influence.

Answer 7

Moscovici used a sample of 172 female participants who were then divided into groups of six. The group of six people were asked to view a set of 36 blue-coloured slides that varied in intensity and then state whether the slides were blue or green.

in the first part of the experiment the two confederates answered green for each of the slides. They were completely consistent in their responses.

In the second part of the experiment they answered green 24 times and blue 12 times. In this case they were inconsistent in their answers.

A control group was used for comparison with the experimental group. No confederates were present in this group.

Question 8

What percentage of the control group’s responses were green?

Answer 8

0.25% of the control group’s responses were green, the rest were blue.

Question 9

When confederates provided inconsistent answers, what percentage of the participants’ responses were green?

Answer 9

When the confederates gave inconsistent answers, 1.25% of the participants’ answers were green.

Question 10

When confederates provided consistent answers, what percentage of the participants’ responses were green?

Answer 10

When the confederates gave consistent answers, 8.42% of the participants’ answers were green.

Question 11

Why were Moscovici’s participants given an eye test before beginning the investigation?

Answer 11

Participants were first given eye tests to ensure that they were not colour blind.

Question 12

Who made up each group of participants?

Answer 12

Each group consisted of four ‘naive’ participants and two confederates.

Question 13

Moscovici’s study drew attention to the main processes driving minority influence. Name these three processes.

Answer 13

1. Consistency
2. Commitment
3. Flexibility

Question 14

According to Moscovici, consistency is one of the main processes associated with minority influence. What is consistency?

Answer 14

Minority influence is most effective if the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over time and between all the individuals that form the minority. This is effective because it draws attention to the minority view.

Question 15

How can consistency in minority groups influence the behaviour of others?

Answer 15

Over time, the consistency in the minority’s views increases the amount of interest from other people. Such consistency makes other people start to re-think their own views.

Question 16

What are the two sub-types of consistency?

Answer 16

1. Synchronic consistency

2. Diachronic consistency

Question 17

What is synchronic consistency?

Answer 17

When all members of the minority group say the same thing.

Question 18

What is diachronic consistency?

Answer 18

When all members of the minority group have been saying the same thing for some time.

Question 19

How can commitment influence the views of others?

Answer 19

Sometimes minorities engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views. These activities need to demonstrate some risk to the minority because this demonstrates commitment to the cause. Majority group members then pay even more attention. This is called the augmentation principle.

Question 20

Which psychologist investigated the influence of flexibility in the minority group?

Answer 20

Nemeth (1986)

Question 21

According to Nemeth, how does flexibility enable the minority to influence the opinions or behaviour of the majority?

Answer 21

Nemeth argued that if the minority is seen as being inflexible and uncompromising then the majority are unlikely to change. They constructed a mock jury in which there were three genuine participants and one confederate. They had to decide on the amount of compensation to give a ski lift accident victim.

When the confederate would not change from a low amount (which seemed unreasonable) the majority stuck together at a much higher amount. However, when the confederate changed his compensation offer, so did the majority.

Nemeth therefore concluded that members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter-arguments. The key is to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility.

Question 22

Overtime, what happens to the number of people in support of the minority viewpoint?

Answer 22

Over time, increasing numbers of people switch from the majority position to the minority position. They have become ‘converted’. The more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion. This is called the snowball effect. Gradually the minority view has become the majority view and change has occurred.

Question 23

What was concluded by Moscovici?

Answer 23

Moscovici concluded that minorities can influence the majority. This influence is more effective when the minority display consistency in their responses.

Question 24

Evaluation point: ‘One limitation of Moscovici’s research derives from his use of a manipulated environment’. Write a paragraph outlining this AO3 point.

Answer 24

One limitation of Moscovici’s research derives from his use of a manipulated environment. The ‘blue slide, green slide task’ is very artificial, so it provides us with little insight into how minority groups might exert their influence in real-life scenarios, such as political campaigns. Additionally, Moscovici made a clear distinction between the majority and the minority in a highly controlled way. In reality, life is much more complicated than this, resulting in wider factors, such as social status, needing to be considered when categorising individuals. This therefore acts as a limitation of Moscovici’s study because it fails to inform our understanding of how minority influence operates in every-day contexts.In this light, Moscovici’s study can be criticised for being low in external validity and real-life application because his findings cannot be generalised beyond that of the laboratory environment. Additionally, the validity of his findings could be challenged because due to the contrived variables, it is likely that his participants responded to demand characteristics, which may have resulted in either the ‘please U’ or ‘screw U’ effect. Because external influences over one’s behaviour have been ignored, Moscovici’s study also identifies as being environmentally reductionist in nature. Despite these criticisms, positives have arisen for his control over the variables. For example, the high internal validity enables a psychologist to establish cause an effect, resulting in trustworthy conclusions.

Question 25

Evaluation point: ‘One strength of Moscovici’s study stems from supporting research evidence’. Write a paragraph outlining this AO3 point.

Answer 25

One strength of Moscovici’s study stems from supporting research evidence. For example, in 1994, Wood et al conducted a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies to Moscovici and found that minorities who displayed consistency were the most influential. This therefore acts as a strength of Moscovici’s research because it supports his proposal that consistency can draw the attention of majority groups to the views of the minority. Because Wood et al maintained similar findings to those of Moscovici, the ‘blue slide, green slide’ study has both reliability and temporal validity. Additionally, because ‘almost 100 similar studies’ were conducted, a nomothetic law can be established, allowing generalisations about minority influence to be produced.

Question 26

Evaluation point: ‘One strength of Moscovici’s ‘blue slide, green slide’ study comes from supporting research evidence’. Write a paragraph outlining this AO3 point.

Answer 26

One strength of Moscovici’s ‘blue slide, green slide’ study comes from supporting research evidence. In a variation of Moscovici’s study, there was an increase in the number of people who changed their view to the minority after being asked to write down their responses. It was concluded that this was because they did not want to admit their changed view to the majority. This therefore acts as a strength of Moscovici’s research because it supports his understanding that minority influence results in internalisation. Thus, the internal validity of his ‘blue-slide, green-slide’ study is high. Additionally, Moscovici’s research is high in both reliability and temporal validity because similar findings regarding the influence of the minority have been reached.