minority social influence

Question 1

Why can’t minority groups influence people by creating social pressure to fit in and avoid rejection?

Answer 1

Minority influences can’t influence people by creating social pressure, because fitting in means doing what most people are doing, and not standing out. But the minority do stand out - they’re different from the majority.

Question 2

To sum it up we have now seen that the process by which minorities influence a majority is called…

Answer 2

CConversion

Question 3

When people listened to the arguments of the women’s rights activists, they started to be persuaded by their arguments, and began to think that maybe they really were right… maybe women should have the same rights as men!

So, the majority…

Answer 3

CInternalised the attitudes of the minority, and became converted.

Question 4

Which of the following are correct about conversion, and the stages of conversion?

Answer 4

GConversion is a form of internalisation.

EThird, the majority are persuaded by the validity minority’s attitudes.

BSecond, people try and understand the minority’s position.

CFirst, the minority creates conflict and people take notice.

Question 5

The process by which a minority converts the attitudes of the majority is called , and it leads to the attitudes of the minority being .

Answer 5

The process by which a minority converts the attitudes of the majority is called conversion , and it leads to the attitudes of the minority being internalised .

Question 6

The minority creates disturbances by doing things that aren’t considered normal.

Answer 6

Conflict

Question 7

b. The majority tries to see where the minority is coming from.

Answer 7

Understanding

Question 8

c. If the majority thinks the minorities attitudes seem legitimate, they are convinced and adopt the minority group’s attitudes and beliefs.

Answer 8

Validity

Question 9

When Gandhi believed so strongly in wanting India to gain independence from British rule that he was willing to starve for it, he was showing….

Answer 9

Bcommitment

Question 10

When Gandhi negotiated with the British government for the indian people to have more say in running their country in local government, even though Britain wouldn’t yet give India full independence, he was showing….

Answer 10

Cflexibility

Question 11

When Gandhi supported independence for other countries, that were also under British rule, he was showing….

Answer 11

Aconsistency

Question 12

If people decide that the position of the minority is valid, they become persuaded by their arguments, and we say that they have been…

Answer 12

BConverted.

Question 13

And now that the minority has become the majority, people who still don’t agree with their views start to feel more social pressure to agree in public to avoid disapproval.

These people are…

Answer 13

Bcomplying.

Dconforming.

Question 14

We have now looked at the process of social change…

Answer 14

DAs more people convert, the influence of the minority gets bigger, causing more people to convert at a faster rate.
BAt first minorities convert a few people slowly.

Question 15

As more people convert, the influence of the minority gets bigger and bigger, causing more and more people to convert at a faster rate, until the minority becomes the majority.
This effect, whereby more and more people convert to the minority at a faster and faster rate is called…

Answer 15

Bthe snowball effect.

Question 16

Social Cryptoamnesia means…

Answer 16

CPeople forget how the new social norms were adopted, and who they came from.

Question 17

At first, Liz and her friends only convinced a few people that their position was correct. However, after a while, the whole school agreed with her. With reference to the snowball effect, explain how Liz and her friends managed to go from converting just a few people, to converting everyone to their position.

Answer 17

The snowball effect describes how as more people convert to the minority, the influence of the minority gets bigger and bigger, causing more and more people to convert at a faster rate, until the minority becomes the majority.


The snowball effect explains how Liz and her friends went from converting just a few students, to getting the whole school to agree with them. The initial process of converting the first few students would have happened slowly for Liz and her friends. However, once they succeeded in converting a few students, these students told their friends, and influenced their friends into converting. This led to more and more students being converted at a faster and faster rate. Eventually, Liz and her friends became the majority. At this point, any students who still didn’t agree complied publically to avoid social rejection.

Question 18

When Liz’s daughter, Katie, was picking her GCSEs, she and her friends didn’t even realise that girls hadn’t always been able to pick their GCSEs freely. Being able to freely pick your GCSEs seemed like it had always been that way. Katie didn’t realise it was her mum who initiated this change.
Which effect is this demonstrating?

Answer 18

Social cryptomnesia.