minority infulence

Question 1

what is minority influence?

Answer 1

• one prsn or small grp infulence belief and behavior from others
  -minority likely to lead internalisation
  -moscovic studied this
  e.g suffragette movement

Question 2

What was moscovic’s method?

Answer 2

-group of 6 viewed 36 sets of blue slides
-varied in colour intensity
-had to distiguish if slides were green or blue

Question 3

what was the aim of moscovic’s study?

Answer 3

-if one person or small group of ppl could infulence the beliefs and behaviours of other people
-the impact of consistency.

Question 4

What was the method/procedures of moscovic’s study?

Answer 4

• when people viewed the slides they had to decide if blue or green
  -two confedtrates said slides were green

Question 5

findings in moscovic’s study?

Answer 5

2/6 confedrates who consitently said 2/3 of slides were green
-agreement with minority happend in 8.425 of trials when confiderates were consistent
- when confederates not consistent fell to 1.25% ( 7x bigger)

Question 6

What were the different groups?

Answer 6

-1st grp- consistent
-2nd grp-werent as consistent (agreement fell to 1.25%)
-3rd grp- control grp- accuarate answers
(wrong answers were only given on 0.25% of thr trials)

Question 7

Overall evaluation of moscovic’s study?

Answer 7

-stronger effect when the minority was consistent
-the more consistent minority was the more theyd infulence the majority

Question 8

strengths of moscovic’s study?

Answer 8

-lab study- casual rs, comapre grps (high internal validity)
-reliable in a lab so repeatbale

Question 9

weakness of moscovic’s study?

Answer 9

-low ecological validity- artficial task, doesnt protray real life behaviour (so low mundane realism)
-doesnt apply to real life situ- more complicated e.g sufraggete movements
-some deception e.g no informed consent
-population bias- 172 woman unrepresentative ( only women)

Question 10

what is consistency?

Answer 10

-increases the interest from others
synchronic- minority all saying the same
diachronic- saying the same thing for some time.
(majority begin to think minority have a point and process msgs more)

Question 11

what is commitment?

Answer 11

-minorities may be extreme, put self at risk
-majority pay more attention
-augmentation principle- “ adding” more power to their argument

Question 12

what is flexibility?

Answer 12

nemeth- consistency can be negative seen as dogmatic and unbearing
-off putting
-minority need to adapt their view and accept reasonable and valid counter arguements

Question 13

what is important in the process of conversion to a different minority viewpoint?

Answer 13

deeper processing

Question 14

what’s the snowball effect?

Answer 14

-people become coverted
-the more this occurs,the faster the role of conversion
-minority view has to become majority

Question 15

what is cryptoamnesia (happens in snowball effect)

Answer 15

-hearing smth from other people ( social)
-and forgetting (amnesia) where you heard it first
-so origin is hidden(crypto)
but idea “planted” in your head

Question 16

evaluation of minority influence POSITIVES

Answer 16

-supports consistency= when minority gave inconsistent answeres they were generally ignored
-martin et al= measured particoant support for a viewpoint
presented w either minority or majority agreeing
ppl more willing to change views if listening to minority then majority
-bc the minority’s viewpoint was more deeply processed

Question 17

how was the minority’s message deep processed in martin et al’s study ?

Answer 17

-more lasting effect
-minority stuck out

Question 18

evaluation of minority influence WEAKNESS

Answer 18

-real world situations more complicated then lab e.g aschs line study
-artificial= unrealistic tasks + don’t show minorities full commitment e.g life or death or policitcal campaigns
-effect of minority not apparent= reluctant to “admit” conversion publically
as majority holds more power
but minority more committed to their causes bc often face hostility
but minority infulence research doesnt express this as much.