minority influence: ao3 Flashcards
Issues with moscovicis research
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. 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
Counterpoint to issues w moscovicis research
P; whilst moscovicis research has its drawbacks it supports the idea of consistency being a step in the effects of minority influence on the majority
E; Moscovici 1969 displayed 36 blue slides of different shades to groups of 4 real ppts and 2 confederates. In first condition where confederate minority consistently claimed that every slide was green ppts agreed on 8% of trials. In the second condition where confederates were inconsistent in saying that the blue slide was green ppts agreed on only 1% of trials
E: therefore consistency is a key factor in swaying majority opinions as more ppts agreed when confederates were consistent. This validates moscvicis claims.
L; however even in the consistent condition 68% of ppts never conformed to the minority implying that very few people are receptive to the influence of a consistent minority group
research support for effects of flexibility
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
issues with nemeth et al research
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
