minority influence

• what does minority influence create

  conversion process
• what is the conversion process


  the majority adopts the minorities view until it becomes the norm
• how can minorities influence


  consistency

  commitment

  flexibility
• how should minorities be consistent


  they should maintain the view over time
• study in support of consistency


  nemeth
• nemeths study


  meta analysis of 97 studies of minority influence

  - found that minorities who were perceived as consistent were more influential than others
• how should minorities be committed


  should be uncompromising, certain and confident

  - because joining a minority has a greater cost to an individual than staying with a majority, the degree of commitment could persuade majority members to take them seriously or convert
• how should minorities be flexible


  they should negotiate with the more powerful majority

  
  

  mugny argued that rigid negotiating = risks being seen as too narrow minded and therefore unliked

  argued that too flexible can be seen as inconsistent and weak

  
  

  should find a mid point
• what is a key study of minority influence


  moscovici et al (green/blue)
• procedure of moscovici


  each group had 4 naive participants and a minority of 2 confederates

  - shown a series of blue slides varying in intensity and asked to judge the colour

  - the consistent condition the 2 confeds repeatedly called the blue slides green

  - the inconsistent condition, the confeds called the slides green on 2/3rds of the trials

  
  

  - control = 6 naive participants, called all blue
• findings of moscovici


  showed that the consistent minority influenced the naive participants to say green on over 8% of trials

  - the inconsistant minority = very little significance

  
  

  - after the study ended, participants were asked to individually sort 16 coloured discs into blue or green

  - 3 were clearly green and 3 were clearly blue, the remaining 10 were ambiguous

  - individuals in the consistent and inconsistant groups set their b/g threshold at diff points

  - consistant group ended up with more green than the inconsistant group
• positive eval of minority influence


  research support for flexibility

  - nemeth and brilmayer

  
  

  it has value

  - nemeth argued that it opens the mind, makes people more creative

  - improved decision quality when exposed to minority influence
• what is nemeth and brilmayers study


  simulated jury situation

  - participants discussed the amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in an accident

  - when a confed put forward an alternative view and refused to change his position, it had no effect on the group members

  - when the confed compromised, he did influence the rest of the group

  
  

  however: influence was only evident in those who shifted view later in negotiations (seen as flexible) rather than those who shifted view earlier (seeming as caving in to the majority)
• negative eval of minority influence


  there is a tipping point for commitment

  - xie et al found a tipping point where the minority number was sufficient to change the majority

  - concluded that the % of comitted opinion holders necessary to tip the majority was just 10%

  
  

  
  

  lack of acceptance

  - nemeth claims that people accept principles on the surface + appear tolerant but become irritated by a persisting dissenting view

  - also might fear creating a lack of harmony in a group by welcoming dissenting ideas

  = means that the majority view persists and innovative thinking from minority influence are lost
• xie et als study


  -developed computer models of social networks, with 'individuals free to chat with'

  - each invididual held a traditional view which they consistantly expressed

  - the researchers also added some with a non trad view

  
  

  -if the listener shared the view then it reinforced their belief

  - if the opinion was diff the listener considered it and moved on to talk to someone else

  - if the next person also held the opposite view, the listener adopted it

  
  

  - concluded that the % of comitted opinion holders necessary to tip the majority was just 10%