Social influence- minority influence Flashcards

1
Q

What was the aim of Moscovici’s study?

A

To see if a consistent minority can influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task

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2
Q

What was the sample?

A

172 female American participants

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3
Q

What was the method?

A

-Told they were taking a colour perception test
-6 participants at a time were told to estimate a colour out loud of 36 slides
-(all different shades of blue)
-2/6 were confederates
-Two conditions
-Consistent- two confederates called the slides green on all trials
-Inconsistent- called the slides green 24 times and blue 12 times

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4
Q

What were the results?

A

-The minority influenced participants in the consistent condition as they called the slides green in 8.4% of the trials
-Participants in the inconsistent condition only called the slides green in 1.3% of the trials

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5
Q

What is consistency?

A

-A minority must be stable in their opinion over time and there must be an agreement among members of the minority

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6
Q

What is commitment?

A

-A minority must be dedicated to their cause/ message/ ethos the greater the dedication, the greater their influence
-not be put off by naysayers and critics

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7
Q

What is flexibility?

A

Although a minority must be stable in their opinion, they must show a willingness to compromise when expressing their opinions-open to accepting reasonable and valid counter-arguments

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8
Q

What is drawing attention?

A

-Drawing the majority attention to an issue
-Protests or celebrity influence
-Example- suffragettees

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9
Q

What is cognitive conflict?

A

-Conflict between the majority group’s beliefs and the position advocated by a minority
-Example- suffragettes (only men allowed to vote, votes for women)

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10
Q

What is consistency of position?

A

-Minorities are more influential in bringing about social change when their argument is consistent
-Suffragettes eventually convinced society they needed the vote

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11
Q

What is the argumentation principle?

A

-If a minority appears to suffer they are more committed
-Suffragettes risked starvation+ imprisonment

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12
Q

What is the snowball effect?

A

-If a minority influence spreads more widely people consider the issues until it reaches a tipping point which leads to large-scale change
-All adult citizens were allowed to vote

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13
Q

What is social change through majority influence?

A

-Behavioural choices are often to group norms
-They tend to alter their behaviour to fit that norm

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14
Q

Define minority influence

A

A form of social influence where a persuasive minority changes the attitudes and behaviours of the majority

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15
Q

What is social change?

A

When a whole society adopts a new belief or way of behaving it then becomes widely accepted as the norm

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16
Q

Why is a biased sample a limitation?

A

P- Biased sample
E- REduces population validity and is underepresentitve
E- Used 172 American females, cannot generalise to males and people from other cultures
L- Research shows that females are more likely to conform, so we cant assume that males would be affected by minority influence in the same way

17
Q

Why are ethical issues a limitation?

A

P- Moscovicci deceived his participants
E- They were told they were taking part in a colour perception test
E- The participants also did not give informed consent
L- However the experiment required deception to produce the most valid results as if participants were aware of the aim that may have displayed demand participants and acted differently

18
Q

Why is real-life application an advantage?

A

P- Real word application
E- Used by activists, unions and governments to cause positive and negative social change
E- Example: suffragettes

19
Q

Why is ecological validity a disadvantage?

A

P- Very artificial
E- It would have been very obviously blue
E- Not something we disagree with in everyday life
L- Real-life situations would be much more important

20
Q

What type of conformity is minority influenece most likely to result in?

A

-Internalisation
-As it is more meaningful because it is not as easily achieved in comparison to majority influence

21
Q

What are the two type of action commitment can be shown as?

A

-Direct + indirect
eg.commitment to animal rights may involve setting lab animals free (direct) or starting a petition to close an animal-testing lab (indirect)

22
Q

Strong commitment in the face of 1.______ may lead the majority to think that the minority possibly have a point, as they are willing to be 2.____ publicly and to face great hardship to change peoples’ minds,

A

1.ridicule or hostility
2.mocked

23
Q

Which time of commitment does this define?-The minority presents a united front and shares the same message

A

Synchronic consistency

24
Q

Which type of commitment does this define?-The minority have been promoting their message

A

Diachronic consistency

25
What is meant by consistency producing a war of attrittion?
-The majority may begin to look seriously at the minority's stance, possibly admiring them for not veering from what they believe in -Gradually a consistent stance can lesson at the doubts and misgivings of most people
26
What was the procedure of Nemeth's study?
-Participants - one of whom was a confederate - were put into groups of four -The participants were presented with a scenario in which someone had been injured in a ski-lift accident -They had to decide as a group how much compensation the victim should receive -There were two conditions of the independent variable: -The inflexible condition: the minority (the one confederate) argued for a low rate of compensation and refused to change his position -The flexible condition: the minority argued for a low rate of compensation but then compromised, offering a slightly higher rate
27
What was the aim of Nemeth's study?
investigated the extent to which a flexible minority could influence others:
28
What were the results of Nemeth's study?
-In the inflexible condition, the minority had little or no effect on the majority -In the flexible condition, the majority was much more likely to change their view and go along with the minority
29
What did Nemeth conclude from his study?
- The minority needs to be flexible if it wants to change the attitudes and behaviours of the majority -Snowball effect -Over time, the minority becomes the majority
30
What is meant by social change?
- a shift or adaptation in social norms
31
Using the example of gay rights, explain how minority infleunce impacts social change
-up until only a few years ago, the right to marry somebody the same sex as you did not exist -Drawing attention to the inequalities of heterosexual/homosexual experience (e.g. through campaigns such as Stonewall and celebrations such as World Pride Month) meant that discussions around gay rights could begin properly By maintaining a consistent message and showing commitment to the cause, gay rights campaigners were able to show that this was a serious issue that warranted serious attention and consideration Taking a flexible approach (e.g. using humour as a 'weapon'; avoiding a rigid and inflexible argument) helped the gay rights cause to reach a wider audience and to find support from various sectors of society being flexible can enable people from outside the minority to engage in deeper processing of the issue