Minority Influence

• What is minority influence?

  A form of social influence by a minority
• How does consistency affect minority influence?

  It attracts interest if maintained over time
• What are the two types of consistency in minority influence?

  • Synchronic consistency: Same view at the same time
  • Diachronic consistency: Same view over time
• What does consistency suggest about the minority's view?

  It suggests they believe their view is correct
• How does commitment influence minority influence?

  It shows importance and requires deep thought
• What is the augmentation principle?

  Engaging in extreme actions to draw attention
• Why is flexibility important in minority influence?

  It prevents perception as extremist and encourages engagement
• What is the Snowball Effect in minority influence?

  Process leading to faster conversion from majority to minority
• What was the procedure in the blue-green slides study by Moscovici et al.?

  • Group of six viewed 36 blue slides
  • Two confederates consistently said slides were green
• What was the result when participants were exposed to consistent confederates?

  True participants agreed 8.42% of trials
• What happened when participants were exposed to inconsistent confederates?

  Agreement with 'green' fell to 1.25%
• What does the study by Moscovici et al. suggest about consistency and conformity?

  Consistency affects conformity and alters majority views
• (A)PFC - Blue-green slides study (Moscovici et al)

  P - Group asked to state whether slides were blue or green

  • Each group had two confederates who consistently said the slides were green

  F - True participants gave the same wrong answer as confederates on 8.42% of trials

  P - Second group of participants was exposed to an inconsistent minority (confederates said green 24/36 times

  F - Agreement with answer ‘green’ fell to 1.25%

  C - Suggests consistency affects conformity and if a minority remains consistent they can alter a majority view
• Minority Influence AO3 - Research support for deeper processing

  • Martin measured participant’s views on euthanasia
  • Exposed them to agreeing view from either a majority or minority view
  • Participants exposed to the minority view less likely to change their view on the subject but spent more time thinking about it
  • Demonstrates that the minority message had to be more deeply processed and had more of an enduring effect
• Minority Influence AO3 - Counterpoint for deeper processing

  • Martin’s study had clear majority/minority which are not relatable to real world research
  • Majorities often have great power and status, whereas minorities face oppression
  • These are absent from research, meaning that findings are not representative of true life
• Minority Influence AO3 - Artificial tasks

  • Moscovici’s task was mundane and lacked realism as in the real world people are not often questioned about the colour of slides
  • Often in reality minorities attempt to influence the majority about huge issues surrounding religion, race and gender, sometimes with a “life or death” impact
  • Research lacks this, which reduces external validity of findings