minority influence and social change

Question 1

What are the 4 ways in which you can achieving minority influence?

Answer 1

Consistent and committed
Flexible
Identification
Style of thinking

Question 2

How does being consistent and committed achieve minority influence?

Answer 2

If the minority is committed the change is more likely to happen

Question 3

What evidence is there for being consistent and committed achieving minority influence?

Answer 3

Moscovici et Al 1999

Question 4

How does being flexible achieve minority influence?

Answer 4

When the minority appears to be co-operative it’s more likely they’re going to get their way

Question 5

What evidence is there for being flexible achieving minority influence?

Answer 5

Nemeth 1986
RPS on groups of 3 had to choose which compensation to use and the confederate appeared flexible allowing them to persuade the RPS to chose the worse compensation

Question 6

How does being identification achieve minority influence?

Answer 6

Majority needs to identify with the minority to be more persuasive.

Question 7

What evidence is there for identification achieving minority influence?

Answer 7

Maass et Al 1982
Found that when gay people campaigned for gay rights in the UK people were more accepting of listening to a straight person than a gay person as they identified with the straight person more.

Question 8

How does being style of thinking achieve minority influence?

Answer 8

Consistent message means there is a higher chance of getting people to engage in systematic processing

Question 9

What evidence is there for style of thinking achieving minority influence?

Answer 9

Smith

If you get people to weigh up the pros and cons they’re more likely to agree

Question 10

What was Moscovici’s aim?

Answer 10

To investigate the role of a consistent minority in an unambiguous situtation

Question 11

What was Moscovici’s method? (4)

Answer 11

1) RPS placed into groups of 6, in each group there was 4 RPS and 2 confederates - they were told the experiment was about perception
2) Each group was shown 36 slides with different blue filters
3) In the consistent condition the confederates said it was green each time
4) In the inconsistent condition for 24 parts of the test the confederates said it was green but for the other 6 they said it was blue

Question 12

What was Moscovici’s findings? (2)

Answer 12

In the consistent condition 8.2% agreed with the confederates and 32% agreed at least once
In the inconsistent condition only 1.5% agreed with the confederates.

Question 13

What was Moscovici’s conclusion? (1)

Answer 13

Consistent argument impacts when looking at minority influence

Question 14

What was Moscovici’s evaluation? (3)

Answer 14

Androcentric
Deception and no informed consent
Size of group and task due to RPS having to publicly declare conformity therefore may be NSI

Question 15

What is meant by “snowball effect” in social change?

Answer 15

Social change is a slow process so at one moment there will be a point of critical mass

Question 16

What is crypotamnesia in social influence creating social change? (+2) (-2)

Answer 16

Eventually people forget why it wasn't always a thing 
\+accepting gay people
\+accepting women's rights
-Nazi Germany 
-President Trump

Question 17

What was Martin and Martin’s aim?

Answer 17

To investigate if opinions given by a majority/minority influence are more resistant to conforming opinions

Question 18

What was Martin and Martin’s method? (2)

Answer 18

1) RPS made up of 45 uni students all said they were supportive of voluntary euthanasia received two messages; the first giving 6 reasons for and the second giving 6 reasons against either from a minority or majority group
2) Afterwards they had to say what they felt.

Question 19

What was Martin and Martin’s findings? (1)

Answer 19

If the first message was contrary to their opinion it was said to have a majority influence they’re more likely to change their opinions

Question 20

What was Martin and Martin’s conclusion? (1)

Answer 20

Minority influence creates deeper level of thinking then majority

Question 21

What was Martin and Martin’s evaluation? (2)

Answer 21

Supports the idea that minority influence can lead to social change
Burgoon (1995) = minority views required more thought as they’re intriguing