social influence - 1.5 Flashcards
Minority influence including reference to consistency, commitment and flexibility.
minority influence?
process works by people converting from a majority to a minority through a staged process until it becomes the majority
3 factors of the minority that will influence how effective it is
consistency
commitment
flexibility
consistency
when a minority forms, people assume they are wrong. however, if they remain consistent, people will reassess the situation and consider the issue carefully can be achieved by repeating the same message.
consistency contributes to social change when a minority repeatedly gives the same message
makes a majority reassess their belief and consider the issue more carefully (and so may adopt the minority point of view)
commitment
when a minority sticks to its cause and is uncompromising in its approach. it suggests: certainty, confidence and courage
may encourage people to join from the majority as they are risking more being in the minority
when a minority show they are willing to give up something for their belief the majority take their argument more seriously (and so may adopt it as their own).
flexbility
minorities need to negotiate their position with the majority
they must avoid being dogmatic in their approach however, it cannot be too flexible and switch its views as it would be viewed as inconsistent
this can be done by listening to others to form conclusions
flexibility contributes to social change when a minority show they are willing to listen to other viewpoints
majority may take argument more seriously
who researched into the influence of minorities?
moscovici et al (1969)
moscovici et al (1969)’s aim
to see whether a consistent minority of participants could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task
moscovici et al (1969)’s procedure
172 female participants were tested to ensure they had good eyesight.
four participants at a time were placed in a room with two confederates and asked to state the colour of the slides they were presented with
the confederates answered first followed by the four naïve participants. all of the slides were blue but of differing brightness totalling 36.
two conditions:
consistent - the two confederates called the slides green on all trials.
inconsistent - the two confederates called the slides green 24 times and blue 12 times
moscovici et al (1969)’s results?
32% reported the slide as green once
participants conformed 8.4% of the time in the consistent condition
participants conformed 1.3% of the time in the inconsistent condition.
moscovici et al (1969)’s conclusion
when a minority behave consistently, they are more influential
they must maintain a consistent viewpoint and agreement amongst the members of the minority.
research therefore supports the idea of consistency as it shows a higher percentage of conformity rates in the consistent condition compared to the inconsistent condition
strengths of minority influence
can be applied to many different scenarios in the world including: The Civil Rights Movement, The Suffragettes etc.
there is research to support form
Moscovici (1969)
limitations of minority influence?
we can criticise the research in this field as it is a test of majority influence. the first two confederates influence the third to give an answer which is majority influence and this continues with a domino effect to the rest of the participants
we can question the research for its validity in reference to ecological validity, mundane realism, population validity and demand characteristics
research using confederates is unethical as it deceives participants which may cause them psychological harm
size of the minority has to be taken into consideration as this may have an impact on conformity rates if the minority is a large minority compared to a small one
