Social Influence - Minority Influence Flashcards
What is the definition of minority influence?
Minority influence is a form of social influence in which a minority of people (sometimes just one person) persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours. It leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours.
What is the definition of consistency in the context of minority influence?
Minority influence is most effective if the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over time and between all the individuals that form the minority. It’s effective because it draws attention to the minority view.
What is the definition of commitment in the context of minority influence?
Minority influence is more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position, for example, by making personal sacrifices. This is effective because it shows the minority is not acting out of self-interest.
What is the definition of flexibility in the context of minority influence?
Flexibility refers to how relentless consistency could be counter-productive if it is seen by the majority as unbending and unreasonable. Therefore, minority influence is more effective if the minority show flexibility by accepting the possibility of compromise.
What did Moscovici’s ‘blue-green slide’ study demonstrate?
Moscovici et al. (1969) demonstrated minority influence in a study where a group of six people was asked to view a set of 36 blue-coloured slides that varied in intensity and then state whether the slides were blue or green. In each group, there were two confederates who consistently said the slides were green on two-thirds of the trials. The participants gave the same wrong answer on 8.42% of trials; 32% gave the same answer as the minority on at least one trial. A second group was exposed to an inconsistent minority, and agreement fell to 1.25%. For a control group with no confederates, the participants got the answer wrong on just 0.25% of trials.
What are the main processes that lead to minority influence?
The main processes are:
Consistency: Consistency increases the amount of interest from others. Moscovici et al. showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect than an inconsistent one. Consistency makes people rethink their own views.
Commitment: Engagement in extreme activities to draw attention to views demonstrates commitment to the cause, which causes the augmentation principle: ‘Wow, they really mean it.’
Flexibility: Nemeth (1986) argued that relentless consistency can be seen as rigid and off-putting. Minorities must be prepared to adapt and accept reasonable counterarguments.
The Process of Change: Over time, increasing numbers of people switch from the majority position to the minority position. This is known as the snowball effect, leading to the point where the minority view becomes the majority view.
What is one evaluation point related to research support for consistency?
Research evidence demonstrates the importance of consistency. Moscovici et al.’s study showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion. Wood et al. (1994) carried out a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential. This suggests that consistency is a major factor in minority influence.
What is one evaluation point related to research support for depth of thought?
Research evidence shows that change to a minority position does involve deeper processing of ideas. Martin et al. (2003) gave participants a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured their support. One group of participants then heard a minority group agree with the initial view, while another group heard this from a majority. Participants were finally exposed to a conflicting view and attitudes were measured again. Martin et al. found that people were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to a minority group than if they were shared with a majority group. This suggests that the minority message had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect, supporting how the minority influence process works.
What is one evaluation point related to artificial tasks in minority influence research?
A limitation of minority influence research is that the tasks involved—such as identifying the colour of a slide—are artificial. Research is therefore far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life. In cases such as jury decision-making and political campaigning, the outcomes are vastly more important, sometimes even a matter of life or death. This means findings of minority influence studies lack external validity and are limited in what they can tell us about minority influence in real-life social situations.
What is one evaluation point related to limited real-world applications?
Research studies usually make a very clear and obvious distinction between the majority and the minority. In fact, being able to do this in a real-life situation is much more difficult. The difference between a majority and minority is more than just numbers. Majorities often have more power and status than minorities. Minorities are very committed to their causes—they have to be because they face hostile opposition. This means that the findings of minority influence studies are limited in their application to real-life minority influence situations.
