minority inlfuence- social influence Flashcards
what is minority influence
one person or small group of people influences beliefs and behaviour of others
likely to lead to internalisation- both public and private beliefs changed in the process
moscovici sudied process in blue slide green slide study
what is consistency
minority must be consistent in views
consistency increases the amount of interest from other people
can take the form of agreement between people in the minority group (synchronic consistency) and or consistency over time (diachronic consistency)
consistent minority makes other people start to rethink their own views
what is commitment
commitment to views
minorities engage in extreme activities to daw attention to thier views
extreme activities present some risk to minority shows greater commitment
majority group members then pay attention
augmentation pricniple
what is flexibility
nemeth- consistency not only important factor can be off putting
may be seen as rigid unbending and dogmatic
unlikely to gain converts
need to be prepared to adapt their point of view of accept reasonable and valid counterarguments
strike balance between consistency and flexibility
what is explaining the process of change
three factors make people think about minoritys iew
hearing something you already agree with doesnt make you stop and think
hear something new and might think more deeply
deeper processing important in process of conversion
increasing numbers of people switch from majority to minority position- converted
the more this happens the faster the rate of conversion- snowball effect
minority view become majority view and change occurred
what is research support for consistency (eval)
research evidence for deomstrating consistency
moscovici-blue green slide showed consistent minority opinion had greater effect on changing views of other people than inconsistent opinion
wood-carried out meta analysis of 100 similar studies an found minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential
suggests presenting consistent view is min requirement for minority trying to influence majority
what is research support for deeper processing (eval)
evidence hsowing change in majorits position does involve deeper processing of minoritys ideas
martin-presented message supporting particular viewpoint and measured pps agreement, one group then heard minority group agree with it, pps exposed to conflicting view and attitudes measured again, people less willing change opinions if listened to minority group than if they had listened to majority group
suggests minority message had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect supporting central argument about how minority influence works
research studies make clear distinctions between majority and minority
controlled way is strength of minority influence research
real world social influence situations more complicated
majorities usually have a lot more power and status than minorities
minorities committed to their causes because they have to be- face hostile opposition
features usually absent from minority influence research- simply the smallest group
martin findings limited in what they can tell us about minority influence in real world situations
what is artificial tasks (eval)
tasks invoolved just as artificual as asch line judgement task
moscivicis colour of the slide
research far removed from how minorities attempt to change behaviour of majorities in real life
jury decision making and political campaigning the outcomes are astly more important
findings of minority research are lacking in external validity and limited in what they can tell us about how minority iinfluence works in real world social situations
