Minority Influence (AO1) Flashcards

1
Q

What is Minority Influence?

A

refers to situations where one person or a small group of people (a minority) influences the beliefs and behaviour of other people
+
most likely to lead to internalisation

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2
Q

What are the 3 Variables Affecting Minority Influence?

A

Consistency
Commitment
Flexibility

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3
Q

Variables Affecting Minority Influence: Consistency

A
  • consistency in a viewpoint can increase the amount of interest from other people
  • synchronic consistency = agreement BETWEEN people within a minority (everyone saying the same thing)
  • diachronic consistency = agreement within a minority OVER TIME (the view doesn’t change)
  • this consistency can make other reconsider their own views
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4
Q

Variables Affecting Minority Influence: Commitment

A
  • sometimes minorities engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to their views, this demonstrates commitment to their cause
  • this gives the minority’s message more credibility because people are unlikely to be prepared to suffer for a cause which is not worthwhile
  • this increase in credibility is known as the augmentation principle, we assign greater importance to a cause because they have fought against strong external “roadblocks”
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5
Q

Variables Affecting Minority Influence: Flexibility

A
  • consistency on its own can be interpreted negatively by others, minority groups could be seen as too rigid or dogmatic
  • this can be off-putting to the majority and is unlikely to result in any conversions to the minority position
  • instead members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view + accept reasonable counterarguments
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6
Q

Minority Influence: Moscovici’s Aim

A
  • to see how minorities can influence a majority to change their minds
  • to see how consistency can affect the outcome
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7
Q

Minority Influence: Moscovici’s Procedure

A
  • 138 female ppts in groups of 6
    (4 naive ppts and 2 confederates)
  • ppts were shown a series of coloured slides + asked to identify if they were blue or green in colour
  • all slides were obviously blue (unambiguous task)
  • there were 3 conditions (independent groups)
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8
Q

What were the 3 Conditions in Moscovici’s experiment?

A

Consistent Minority - confederates called all 36 slides green

Inconsistent Minority - confederates called 24 slides green (2/3)

Control Condition - 6 genuine ppts & no confederates

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9
Q

Minority Influence: Moscovici’s Findings

A

condition 1/ consistent minority = 8.4% of the genuine ppts moved to adopt the minority position

condition 2/ inconsistent minority = 1.3% of the genuine ppts moved to adopt the minority position

condition 3/ control group = 0.3% of the genuine ppts moved to adopt the minority position

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10
Q

Minority Influence: Moscovici’s Conclusions

A

minorities have the power to influence a majority, as long as they are consistent in their approach

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