Section 1 : Social Influence - Minority Influence and Social Change

Question 1

What would happen if everyone went along with the majority

Answer 1

Nothing would change

Question 2

What gains influence and changes the way the majority thinks

Answer 2

Small minorities and even individuals

Question 3

What type of conformity is involved in minority influence

Answer 3

Internalisation

Question 4

Minority influence is stronger if the the minority is….

Answer 4

Consistent
Flexible
Committed

Question 5

What is Moscovici et al (1969)

Answer 5

Research into minority influence that compared inconsistent minorities with consistent minorities

Question 6

What type of experiment was Moscovici et al (1969)

Answer 6

Laboratory experiment

Question 7

What were the characteristics of he participants

Answer 7

192 women

Question 8

What was the task of Moscovici et al (1969)

Answer 8

In groups of 6, participants judged the colour of 36 slides.
All slides were blue but the brightness of blue varied on each slide.

Question 9

Were there confederates

Answer 9

Yes

Question 10

How many confederates were there in each group

Answer 10

2 out of 6

Question 11

What were the confederates job

Answer 11

In one condition, confederates called all 36 slides ‘green’ (consistent)
In another condition, confederates called 24 of the slides ‘green’ and 12 ‘blue’ (inconsistent)

Question 12

Was there a control group

Answer 12

Yes, it contained no confederates

Question 13

What were the results in the control group of Moscovici (1969)

Answer 13

Participants called the slides ‘green’ 0.25% of the time

Question 14

What were the results in the consistent condition

Answer 14

8.4% of the time participants adopted the minority position and called the slides ‘green’
32% of participants called slides ‘green’ at least once

Question 15

What were the results of the inconsistent condition

Answer 15

The participants moved to the minority position of calling the slides green only 1.25% of the time

Question 16

What is the conclusion of Moscovici et al

Answer 16

The confederates were in the minority but their views appear to have been influenced the real participants. The use of the two conditions illustrates that the minority had more influence when they were consistent in calling the slides ‘green”

Question 17

What is the evaluation of Moscovici et al (1969)

Answer 17

-Lacks ecological validity due to it being a lab experiment because task was artificial
-Participants may have felt that judging the colour of was trivial may have acted differently if principles were involved
-Study was carried out on women - results cannot be generalised to men
-We know that participants were actually influenced by the minority rather than being independently unsure of the colour slide - this is the significance of control group

Question 18

What was Nemeth et al (1974)

Answer 18

A repeated Moscovici experiment but instructed participants to answer with all of the colours they saw in the slide, rather than a single colour. For example, they could answer ‘green-blue’ rather than ‘green’

Question 19

What were the three variation Nemeth (1974)

Answer 19

Where confederates:
1) said all of 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 20

What happened when the confederates said ‘green’ or varied their response (inconsistent)

Answer 20

They had no effect on the participants responses.

Question 21

What happened when where the confederates responses varied with a feature of the slide (brightness)

Answer 21

It had a significant effect on the participants responses

Question 22

What was the conclusion of Nemeth et al (1974)

Answer 22

The confederates had most influence when they were consistent but flexible- Nemeth proposed that rigid consistency wasn’t effective because it seemed unrealistic when more subtle responses were allowed

Question 23

What does Moscovici’s conversion theory suggest

Answer 23

That majority and minority influence are different processes

Question 24

What is the process of majority influence

Answer 24

-People compare behaviour to majority and change behaviour to fit in without considering majority views in detail
-So majority influence involves compliance - it doesn’t always cause people to change their private feelings just their behaviour

Question 25

What is the process of Minority influence

Answer 25

-When a minority is consistent people may examine the minority’s belief in detail because they want to understand why the minority sees things differently
-Can lead people to privately accept the minority view - they convert to the minority position
-social pressure to conform may mean their behaviour doesn’t actually change at least at first

Question 26

what does consistency show according to Moscovici and the factors that enable minority influence to occur

Answer 26

consistentcy shows commitement

Question 27

what can minority views initially be seen as

Answer 27

wrong, because they don’t match with what is considered the norms

Question 28

what is effect of consistency on minority influence

Answer 28

consistency shows commitment and the minority isnt willing to compromise, this creates a conflict - when your faced with a consistent majority you consider whether they might be right and if you should change your view

Question 29

what does Moscovici call the validation process

Answer 29

process when you are faced with a consistent majority and you seriously consider whether they may be right and if you should change your view

Question 30

what happens if there’s no reason to dismiss minority views

Answer 30

then you begin to see things as the minority does

Question 31

who created the social impact theory

Answer 31

Latane and Wolf

Question 32

what did latane and wolf argue

Answer 32

they argued that social influence occurs when the combined effect of three factors are significant enough

Question 33

what were the three factors discussed in the social impact theory

Answer 33

Strength
Numbers
Immediacy

Question 34

what does strength refer to

Answer 34

how powerful, knowledgeable and consistent the group appear to be

Question 35

what does numbers refer to

Answer 35

how many people are in the group

Question 36

what does immediacy refer to

Answer 36

how close the source of influence is to you (physically or relationship)

Question 37

how does minority influence happen according to latane and wolf

Answer 37

through the same process as majority influence - its just the balance of factors that create the social influence that’s different

Question 38

how can a minority exert social influence

Answer 38

the numbers may be small
but the minority strength and immediacy

Question 39

how does a majority iexert social infleunce

Answer 39

the numbers are big
so strength and immediacy isnt needed as much as minority influence

Question 40

how do minorities become majorities

Answer 40

through the snowball effect

Question 41

what is the snowball effect

Answer 41

people need to go from privately accepting the minority to publicly accepting it

Question 42

what is social cryptoamnesia

Answer 42

the public opinion changes gradually over time until the minority view is accepted as the norm, but people forget where the view originally came from

Question 43

give examples of minorities changing them public opinion

Answer 43

Martin Luther King Jr.
Gay Rights Movements