Social Influence L12 - 13 (Minority Influence) Flashcards

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1
Q

What is minority influence?

A

A type of social influence where individuals are motivated to reject the established majority group norms

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2
Q

How is minority influence achieved?

A
  • Through the process of conversion
  • Conversion = New belief is being accepted both publicly and privately (type of internalisation)
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3
Q

What are the three behavioural characteristics of the minority and who established each?

A
  • Consistency (research)
  • Commitment (suggested by Moscovici)
  • Flexibility (suggested by Moscovici)
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4
Q

How does consistency work?

A
  • Showing confidence in beliefs
  • Appearing unbiased
  • Causes others to reassess situation
  • Nemeth (2010) stated after all, there must be a reason why the minority takes the position it does and is confident to maintain it over time
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5
Q

What was the aim and procedure of Moscovici’s study?

A

Moscovici (1969)
- Can a consistent minority influence the majority to give an incorrect answer?

  • 172 female pps in colour perception task
  • Groups of 6
  • 36 slides w/ varying shades of blue and asked to state the colour of each one
  • 2 of 6 were confederates
  • In the (consistent) condition, they said all slides were green
  • In the (inconsistent) condition, they said 24 were green and 12 were blue
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6
Q

What were the findings of Moscovici’s study?

A
  • Consistent condition –> Pps agreed on 8.2% of the trials
  • Inconsistent condition –> Pps agreed on 1.25% of the trials
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7
Q

What other research evidence is there for consistency?

A
  • Wood et al (1994) carried out meta-analysis of 97 studies of minority influence and found those who were especially consistent were particularly influential
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8
Q

How does commitment work?

A
  • Suggests certainty, confidence and courage
  • Degree of commitment is typically greater due to risk of joining a minority compared to a majority
  • Augmentation principle = Majority will pay more interest if minority is doing smth quite risky by committing
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9
Q

What other research evidence is there for commitment?

A

Xie et al (2011) found a ‘ tipping point’ where at least around 10% of the population needs to be minority to be able to influence the majority

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10
Q

What does Mugny (what yr?) say about flexibility and how does it work?

A
  • Mugny (1982) suggests flexibility is more effective at changing majority rather than commitment
  • Because minority are generally powerless, it is important that they negotiate rather than enforce their position
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11
Q

What does Nemeth say about flexibility and what was the aim of his study?

A
  • Nemeth (1986) argues it is important to strike a balance between commitment and flexibility
  • Investigate importance of flexibility for minority influence
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12
Q

What was the procedure of Nemeth’s study?

A
  • Groups of 4
  • Had to agree on amount of compensation given to victim of ski-lift accident
  • 1/4 was a confederate
  • One (inflexible) condition was when minority argued for low rate and refused to negotiate
  • Second (flexible) condition was when minority argued for low rate but compromised by offering a slightly higher rate
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13
Q

What were the results of Nemeth’s study?

A
  • Inflexible condition –> Minority had little/no effect on majority
  • Flexible condition –> Maj members were much more likely to compromise
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14
Q

List the strengths of minority influence

A
  • Real value of research
  • Research evidence to show minority influence involves deeper processing ideas
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15
Q

How is there real value in the research into minority influence?

A
  • Nemeth (2010) argued dissent of minority grp opens the mind and people search for information and consider more options
  • Allows researchers to understand the processes for social change
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16
Q

What research evidence shows the involvement of deeper processing ideas in minority influence?

A
  • Martin et al (2003) gave pps a message supporting a viewpoint and measured their support
  • 1 grp heard the minority agree w/ view
  • Other grp heard majority agree w/ view
  • After being exposed to a conflicting view, pps were less willing to change opinions if they had listened to minority
  • Shows power of minority influence to have an enduring effect
17
Q

Weaknesses of minority influence:

A

Lack of ecological validity in research

18
Q

How does minority influence research lack ecological validity?

A
  • Lack of realism in Moscovici’s colour perception task means demand characteristics may have been shown
  • Nemeth (2010) claimed it is still difficult to convince people of the value of dissent because they might accept the minority view on the surface but not actually internalise it
19
Q

What is social change?

A

When a whole society changes and adopts new beliefs, commonly as a result of minority influence

20
Q

5 stages of social change:

A

1) Drawing attention to issue
2) Consistency of position –> over time and w/ each other
3) Deeper processing –> thinking about the status quo and its possible unjustness
4) Augmentation principle –> willing to suffer for change
5) Snowball effect –> ideas spread widely and minority becomes majority due to conformity through NSI or ISI
6) Social cryptoamnesia –> Source and message of the change has been disassociated. It is now the law/social norm

21
Q

Give one study that shows the role of conformity in social change:

A
  • Asch’s study –> Conformity dropped when there was one dissenter (even if answer was incorrect)
22
Q

Give two examples of research that shows the role of obedience in social change

A
  • Milgram’s research –> When 1 disobedient pp refused, obedience rates decreased dramatically
  • Zimbardo (2007) suggested how obedience can be used to create social change through process of gradual commitment
23
Q

Give one research example of the role of minority influence in social change

A
  • Moscovici’s research demonstrated the needs of commitment, flexibility and consistency that evokes conversion
  • Over time, the snowball effect causes social change to occur
24
Q

What are the strengths of social influence processes in social change?

A

Research support for role of conformity:
- Nolan (2008) investigated whether these processes led to a reduction in consumption of energy
- Hung messages (about reducing energy usage) on doors of houses in San Diego every week for a month
- Control group had a message not referring to other residents
- Grp w/ message referencing other residents showed decrease in energy usage due to NSI

25
Q

What are the weaknesses of social influence processes in social change?

A
  • Effects of minority influence is indirect and delayed
  • Social change can only occur if minority does not have negative connotations
26
Q

Who argued that minority influence is indirect and delayed and why?

A
  • Nemeth (1986)
  • Indirect, as they will only be influenced by the matter at hand rather than the central issues themselves
  • Delayed, as effects may be not be seen for some time
  • As a result, it is difficult to test in a scientific setting
27
Q

What research evidence done by who shows social change can only occur if minority does not have negative connotations?

A
  • Bashir et al (2013) found pps were less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways as they didn’t want to be associated with stereotypical ‘tree huggers’
  • Shows possible barriers for social change that can exist