Minority influence

• What is minority influence?

  A form of social influence where people reject the established norm of the majority and move to the position of the minority
• What does conversion in minority influence lead to?

  Internalisation due to the informational social influence
• What is a snowball effect?

  Slowly, the minority viewpoint become the majority as more people conform
• How does consistency influence minority influence?

  It increases interest from the majority because they will see the minority as confident.
• What are the 2 types of consistency?

  -Diachronic consistency: saying the same thing for some time

  -Synchronic consistency: consistency of members
• What did Moscovici do?

  He said consistency is important which he proved in his blue-green studies
• How does flexibility influence minority influence?

  Likely to be seen as less extreme and more reasonable
• What did Nemeth do?


  Investigate how flexibility influences minority influence by doing a study based on a mock jury- when consistent minority (confederate) argued, there was no effect on the majority but when he compromised, the majority changed their views
• How does commitment influence minority influence?

  If minority takes risks they will show more commitment and gain more attention- known as the augmentation principle
• How does identification influence minority influence?


  People tend to identify with people they see similar to themselves
• How does style of thinking influence minority influence?

  If a minority can get the majority to think about an issue and it’s pros and cons, they have more of a change of influencing the majority
• What is flexibility?


  Willing to adapt an answer and compromise
• What is commitment?


  Views of the minority are unchanging
• What was Moscovici’s blue-green study?


  He showed blue slides but the confederate said they were green (never in the control study, always in the consistent study and sometimes in the inconsistent study)
• What was Moscovici’s follow-up?


  Participants were asked to sort chips into a green or blue pile. The participants that were in the consistent study judged more chips to be green compared to those in the inconsistent condition which suggests that minority influence leads to internalisation
• What is social cryptomnesia?


  A phenomenon where the origins of social change become forgotten over time. It often involves forgetting or downplaying the role of minority groups in initiating these changes