Social influence

Question 1

Milgram & Elms (1966)

Answer 1

Conducted post-experiment interviews with 20 of Milgram’s original, fully-obedient participants and 20 of Milgram’s disobedient participants.

The obedient participants scored higher on the F-scale than the disobedient ones. it was concluded that the obedient participants demonstrated more characteristics of the Authoritarian personality.

Question 2

Christie & Jahoda

Question 3

Wood et al. (1994)

Answer 3

Conducted a meta analysis of almost 100 studies similar to Moscovici’s that demonstrated the consistent minorities were the most influential.

Suggests consistency is a minimum requirement for effective minority influence

Question 4

Martin et al. (2003)

Answer 4

Presented participants with a message of a particular viewpoint, then asked them to rate their agreement.

Exposed participants to either a minority group agreeing with the message or a majority group agreeing with the message. Participants were then exposed to a conflicting view and were asked to re-rate their agreement of the message.

The participants were less willing to change their view on the message IF they had listened to the minority group. Therefore, minorities encourage a deeper level of processing and thinking that makes changes in perspective endure, supporting the central argument