Social Psychology: topic 10 ‘factors affecting in minority influence’

Question 1

What is the role of consistency?

Answer 1

• it has been argued that a minority group in society is more likely to influence the majority group in society if they are consistent in their views
• the consistency might be agreement between people in the minority group
• synchronic consistency: they’re all saying the same time, and/or consistency over time
• diachronic consistency: they’ve been saying the same thing for some time now
• this consistency leads to the majority to doubt themselves which can lead to behaviour change

Question 2

What is the role of commitment?

Answer 2

• some minorities engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to their views
• it is important that these extremes activities are at some risk to the minority because this demonstrates commitment to the cause
• majority group members then pay even more attention to the minority issue (the augmentation principle)

Question 3

What is the time of flexibility?

Answer 3

• Nemeth has suggested that the downside to being extremely consistent and repeating the same arguments over and over again is that it can be seen as rigid and unreasonable
• therefore Nemeth argues members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable counter arguments
• therefore minority influence is more effective if the minority show flexibility by showing a willingness to compromise