minority influence: ao3

Question 1

Issues with moscovicis research - minority influence

Answer 1

P: an issue with moscovicis research supporting the effects of minority influence is that the study lacks population and ecological validity.
E: his sample consisted of only females
E: this only tells us about the behaviour of one demographic and therefore limits the generalisability of of the findings. women are also more likey to conform bc they are more concerned with maintaining social relationships (neto) Additionally the task of calling a blue slide green is an artificial task and doesn’t reflect social change in the real world.
L: thus it’s harder to make meaningful conclusions about the effects on minority influences based on research by moscovici

Question 2

research support for effects of flexibility - minority influnce

Answer 2

P; Nemeth 1987 conducted a study exemplifying how flexibility has been shown to help minorities influence members of the majority
E: Nemeth asked 3 real ppts and one confederate to act as a mock jury and decide on the level of compensation for the victim of an imaginary ski lift accident whereby the a part of the victims leg bone was removed.
all of the ppts offered a compensation level from 150 000 up to 300 000 dollars, in each mock jury however there was a confederate who argued an extremely low amount of 50 000 dollars
E; when the confederates remained inflexible in their views they were less able to convince the majority to lower their offers. however when they were flexible and increased their offer to 100 000 the majority was convinced to lower their offers.
L: this supports moscovicis claim that flexibility is a big part in minorities swaying the opinions of majorities

Question 3

issues with nemeth et al research - minority influence

Answer 3

P; whilst nemeths research implicates flexibility as playing a significant role in the effects of minority it has some draw backs
E; for example, it is a lab study done in an lab environment with artificial tasks.
E: a lab environment doesn’t reflect the real world so thus raises the issue of low ecological validity. this is because in the real world we do experience minority influence but members of those minorities are often known to us not total strangers like in nemeths study. additionally, the issues majorities and minorities disagree on are important social issues not a make believe jury where there is no tangible consequence.
L: ultimatley this means lab based studies on social change may tell us little about real world minority influence

Question 4

strength of social change - real world application of commitment and consistency

Answer 4

P; the explanation of how minority influence leads to social change has been shown in the real world via the civil rights movement
E: leaders in the civil rights movement demonstrated consistency and commitment in the fights against racial segregation.
E:they did this via non violent protests and marches. in many cases suffering abuse at the hands of law enforcement eg the use of teat gas. via the augementation principle this lead to many white americans re considering their beliefs on racial segregation
L: ultimatley this lead to signifcant social change including the passing of civil rights acts. thus the steps which moscovici claimed were necessary fot mi to lead to social change have been given credibilty

Question 5

strength - practical applications of social change in governments

Answer 5

P; there are practical applications to social change
E: for example governments are able to understand how to change human beh eg in persuading people to eat healthy through the change4life movement or taking social distancing precautions during the pandemic through the news and signs in public places (they drew attention, were consistent, via augementation principle - celebrating key workers risking their lives)
E: in these cases understanding social change has helped the economy in reducing some of societies healthcare costs
L: thus giving the concepts of social change real world credibility

Question 6

limitation of social change - hard to establish cause and effect

Answer 6

P: social change often occurs very rarely over extended periods of time
E: eg sensitive topics like racial inequality or discrimination
E: thus large scale lab experiments on social change arent possible. instead researchers rely on natural experiments and case studies
L: thus cause and effect relationships cannot be established and scientific credibility cannot be attributed to social change.