Moscovici et al. (1969) Minority Influence

Question 1

Method

Answer 1

• Laboratory experiment into minority influence using 192 women, in groups of 6 at a time,
• Participants judged the colour of 36 slides, all the slides were blue, but the brightness of the blue varied,
• two of the six participants in each group were confederates, in one condition the confederates called all 36 slides green, and in another they called 24 slides green and 12 blue, a control group was also used containing no confederates.

Question 2

Results

Answer 2

• In the control group the participants called the slides green 0.25% of the time, in the consistent condition 8.4% of the time participants adopted the minority position and called the slides green, 32% of participants called the slides green at least once,
• In the inconsistent condition, the participants moved to the minority position only 1.25% of the time.

Question 3

Conclusion

Answer 3

• Confederates were in the minority but their views appear to have influenced the real participants, the use of the two conditions illustrated that the minority had more influence when they were consistent in calling the slides green.

Question 4

Evaluation

Answer 4

• Study was a laboratory experiment; lacked ecological validity; artificial task,
• Participants may have felt the task trivial; might have acted different if principles were involved,
• Study only carried out on women; results can’t be generalised to men,
• Owing to the use of a control group, know that the participants were actually influenced by the minority rather than being independently unsure of the colour of the slides,
• In a similar experiment, participants were asked to write down the colour rather than say it out loud, in this condition even more people agreed with the minority; provides more support for minority influence.

Question 5

Nemeth et al (1974) variation of Moscovici, what were the changes?

Answer 5

• Asked participants to answer with all the colours they saw on the slide, rather than a single colour, e.g. green-blue rather than green,
• Ran three variations, where the confederates,
  1) Said all the slides were green,
  2) Said the slides were green or green-blue at random,
  3) Said the brighter slides were green-blue and the duller slides were green or vice-versa.

Question 6

What were the results of Nemeth et al (1974)?

Answer 6

• When the confederates always answered green, or varied their response randomly they had no effect on the participants’ responses,
• In the condition where the confederates responses were varied with a feature of the slide (brightness), the confederates had a significant effect on the participants’ responses.

Question 7

Conclusion of Nemeth et al (1974)

Answer 7

• Confederates had most influence when they were consistent but flexible; flexibility key to minority influence.