psychology minority influence

Question 1

what is minority influence

Answer 1

situations where one person or small group influences beliefs and behaviour of other people
distinct from conformity where majority is doing influencing
likely to lead to internalisation both public behaviour and private beliefs are changed

Question 2

what is consistency

Answer 2

minority must be consistent in views
consistency increases amount of interest from other people, can take form of agreement between people in minority group, makes other people start to rethink their own views

Question 3

what is commitment

Answer 3

demonstrate commitment to cause or views
engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views, important that these extreme activities present some risk to minority because this shows greater commitment, majority group members even pay more attention- augumentation principle

Question 4

what is flexibility

Answer 4

nemeth- consistency isnt only important factor can be pff putting, simply repeats same arguments and behaviours again and again seen as rigid unbending and dogmatic unlikely to gain many converts to minority position
prepared to adapt pov and accept reasonable and valid counterarguments strike balance between consistency and flexbility

Question 5

what is explaining the process of change

Answer 5

hear something new might think more deeply about it especially if the source of this other view is consistent committed and flexible
deeper processing important in process of conversion to different minority viewpoint, increasing numbers of people switch from majority to minority- converted
more this happens faster rate of conversion- snowball effect, minority view becomes majority and change has occured

Question 6

what is the research support for consistency

Answer 6

research evidence demonstrating importance of consistency
moscovici blue green slide study showed that consitent minority opinion had greater effect on changing views of other people than inconsistent opinion
wood- carried out meta analysis of 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential
presenting consistent view is minimum requirement for minority trying to influence majority

Question 7

what is research support for deeper processing

Answer 7

evidence showing change in majoritys position does involve deeper processing of minoritys ideas
martin-presented message supporting particular viewpoint and measured pps agreement, one group pps then heard minority group agree with initial view while another group heard majority group agree with it, pps were exposed to conflicting view and attitudes measured again, people less willing to change their opinions if they listened to minority group than if they listened to majority group
minority message had been more deeply processed and had more enduring effect supporting central argument about how minority influence works

research findings make clear distinctions about majority and minority
doing this controlled way is strength of minority influence research but real world social influence situations more complicated
majorities usually have more power and status than minorities minorities committed to causes and these features usually absent from minority influence research minority is just smallest group
martin findings very limited in what they can tell us about minority influence in real world situations

Question 8

what are artificial tasks evaluation

Answer 8

tasks just as artificial as aschs line judgement task
moscovici task of identifying colour of a slide, research far removed from how minorities attempt to change behaviour of majorities in real life
jury decision making and political campaigning outcomes vastly more important
findings of minority influence studies lacking in external validity and limited in what can tell us about how minority influence works in real world social situations