minority influence & social change Flashcards
minority influence
type of social influence
- motivates individuals to REJECT established majority group norms
- achieved through the process of conversion
conversion
where majorities become GRADUALLY WON OVER to a minority viewpoint
- involves the new belief / behaviour being accepted both publicly & privately
— seen as a type of INTERNALISATION
behavioural characteristics of the minority
CONSISTENCY
COMMITMENT
FLEXIBILITY
consistency - minority influence
minority needs to be unchanging + consistent
- show confidence in its beliefs
- appear unbiased
- if minority = consistent, others come to reassess the situation and consider it more carefully
- Nemeth (2010)
experiment into minority influence : consistency - aim & method
Moscovici (1969) wanted to see if a consistent minority could influence a majority
- to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task
- 172 female pps
- groups of 6 (2/6 = confeds)
- shown 36 slides, varying shades of blue, pps had to state aloud the colour
- in the consistent condition, the 2 confeds said ALL SLIDES = GREEN
- inconsistent condition, they said 24 slides were gree (12=blue)
Moscovici’s findings (minority influence)
in consistent condition, the real pps agreed on 8.2% of the trials
- inconsistent, real pps only agreed on 1.25%of the trials
shows that a CONSISTENT minority = 6.95% more effective than an inconsistent one
- CONSISTENCY = IMPORTANT FACTOR in exerting minority influence
other research support for consistency - minority influence (Wood et al (1994)
carried out a META ANALYSIS of 97 studies of minority influence
- found that minorities who were perceived as consistent were particularly influential
commitment
suggests CERTAINTY, CONFIDENCE, COURAGE in the face of a hostile majority
- joining minority has greater cost than staying w majority, so commitment of minority = greater (usually)
- this greater commitment may persuade majority to take them seriously, or convert them to minority position
- augmentation principle
augmentation principle
explains how minorities can CHANGE the majority
- minority is doing smthn quite RISKY, but shows COMMITMENT
- so majority will pay more interest
research support for commitment - minority influence
Xie et al (2011)
- discovered a ‘tipping point’
- how many ppl you need in minority to change majority
- found you need approx. 10% of minority pop. to INFLUENCE majority
flexibility
Mugny (1982) suggests that FLEXIBILITY is more EFFECTIVE at changing majority opinion
- rather than rigidity of arguments
- minorities are generally powerless, so they have to NEGOTIATE
— rather than enforce their position upon the majority
BUT : a minority that is TOO flexible is seem as weak & inconsistent
research support for flexibility - minority influence
Nemeth (1986)
- investigated the idea of flexibility as a key characteristic of successful minorities who exert pressure
- pps in groups of 4
- had to agree on how much compensation they’d give to a ski life accident victim
- one = confed, 2 conditions (low rate of compensation, one flexible and one not)
- found that in the INFLEXIBLE condition, minority had little or NO EFFECT on majority
- flexible - they were more effective, majority more likely to also compromise
- highlights important of flexibility
- striking a balance between consistency and flexibility = most successful strategy
strengths of minority influence
there is ‘real value’ of research into minority research
research evidence
strength of minority influence: value of research
- Nemeth argues dissent in the form of minority group OPENS THE MIND
— as a result, ppl search for infor, consider more options, make better decisions that are more creative - allows researchers to UNDERSTAND the means and processes for SOCIAL CHANGE
- (linked to minority influence)
strength of minority influence : research evidence
- to show that change in minority position involves deeper processing of ideas
- Martin et al (2003)
- gave pps a message supporting a viewpoint and measured their support
- one group heard a minority agree with the initial view
— other group heard the majority agree - pps were exposed to a conflicting view
— attitudes were measured again - pps were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to minority group rather than majority
— shows the POWER of minority influence - in terms of being more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect
weaknesses of minority influence
lacks ecological validity
may not apply to real life situations
weakness of minority influence : realism
lack of realism of tasks given to pps
- eg Moscovici’s study, judging colour of slides is not real to life
- lacks ecological validity
-so, we should be cautious when analysing research findings
- studies may not represent how minority influence works IRL
weakness of minority influence : real life situations
may not apply to real life situations, which can be much more complicated
- eg Nemeth claimed that it’s still hard to convince ppl of the value of dissent
- since ppl may accept the minority opinion on the SURFACE
- but may become irritated by the view
- fear lack of harmony
- as a result, we attempt to belittle dissenting view to contain it
social change
when a WHOLE SOCIETY changes and adopts new beliefs / ways of behaving
- which then becomes the norm
social change is commonly a result of …
MINORITY INFLUENCE
- when an individual / small group impact upon the majority
what would happen if minorities didn’t exist?
there would never be any change
- we would simply go along w the majority all the time
- no new ideas (innovation), no unfairness would be challenged, and society would never improve
example of social change
attitudes towards homosexuality
- it was an imprisonable offence in UK until 1967
- public attitudes have changed over time
- now most people view being gay as normal
- laws have been created to protect gay rights
- 2005 - same sex civil partnerships introduced
6 stages of how minority influence creates social change
DRAWING ATTENTION to the issue - minorities draw majority’s attention to an issue
CONSISTENCY of position - minorities = more influential when they express arguments consistently, over time, w each other
DEEPER PROCESSING - other ppl start to pay attention to minority, thinking about status quo and unjustness of it
AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE - if minority appears willing to suffer for their views, they’re seen as more committed, taken more seriously, eg doing smthn ‘wow’ to catch majority’s attention, links to commitment
SNOWBALL EFFECT - minority’s effect starts small, then spreads more widely, more ppl consider the issue, reaches a tipping point where minority become majority, wide scale social change, conformity will occur, laws may be introduced
SOCIAL CRYPTOAMNESIA - majority knows social change has occurred, but don’t recall how it happened, source of change and message itself has become disassociated, maybe bcs laws have been made - don’t think abt why
african-american civil rights movement : social change
DRAWING ATTENTION - done through social proof, civil rights marches drew attention to the problem, 1950s
CONSISTENCY - many marches, many ppl taking part, activists displayed consistency of message and intent
dEEPER PROCESSING - this attention meant that many ppl started to question the status quo, injustice of it
AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE - number of incidents where ppl risked their lives, eg freedom riders got on buses in the south to challenge the separation, many were beaten
SNOWBALL EFFECT - activists like Martin Luther King continued to press for change, gradually got attention of govt, 1964 = civil rights act, prohibited discrimination, change from minority to majority support
SOCIAL CRYPTOAMNESIA - ppl can’t remember how the change happened, no memory of the events that led to the change, but know it happened
