Social Influence - Minority Influence and Social Change

Question 1

What three things can make a minority influence stronger?

Answer 1

Being consistent

Being flexible

Being committed

Question 2

It is not on the spec, so feel free to skip. (Although, it is a key study in both the text book and revision guide.)

According to Moscovici’s conversion theory (1980), how do the processes of majority influence and minority influence differ?

Answer 2

Majority Influence:

People compare their b ehaviour to the majority (social comparison), and change their behaviour to fit in without considering her majority’s views in detail.

So majority influence involves compliance — it doesn’t always cause people to change their private feelings, just behaviour.

Minority Influence:

When a minority is consistent, people may actually examine the minority’s beliefs in detail because they want to understand why the minority sees things differently.

This can lead to people privately accepting the minority view — they convert to the minority position.

Social pressure to conform may mean their behaviour doesn’t actually change, at least at first.

Question 3

How does consistency enable minority influence to happen?

Answer 3

Initially, minority views can be seen as wrong because they don’t match up with what’s considered the norm.

But by being consistent the minority group shows that it has a clear view which it’s committed to, and isn’t willing to compromise (i.e. the minority isn’t willing to give in to the pressure to conform).

This creates conflict— when are faced with a consistent minority you have to
seriously consider whether they might be right, and if you should change your view.
Moscovici called this the validation process.

lf there’s no reason to dismiss the minority view, then you begin to see things as the minority does.

Question 4

Outline the snowball effect.

Answer 4

If some people in a group start to agree with a minority view then the minority becomes more influential.

This results in more and more people converting to the minority view. Eventually the minority becomes a majority.

For this to happen, people need to go from privately accepting the minority view to publicly expressing it.

One explanation of why this might happen is social cryptoamnesia.

Question 5

What is social cryptoamnesia?

Answer 5

Public opinion changes so gradually over time, until the minority is the accepted norm, but people forget where the view originally came from.