A03

• Point: One strength is research evidence demonstrating the importance of consistency.

  Evidence: Moscovici’s blue/green slide study and a meta-analysis of 100 similar studies have explored the effects of a consistent versus an inconsistent minority. 

  Explain: They all found that a consistent minority opinion had a greater influence on changing views of the majority compared to an inconsistent one. 

  Link: Therefore, this emphasises the significance of consistency in minority influence and its potential impact on shifting majority opinions.
• P :) is evidence showing that a change in the majority's position involves deeper processing of the minority's ideas.

  E: Martin (2003) compared participants who listened to agreement from a minority group vs a majority group before being exposed to a conflicting view.

  E: Participants were less willing to change their opinions after exposure to a minority group compared to a majority group, indicating deeper processing of minority messages. 

  L: Thus, this highlights the importance of understanding the cognitive processes involved in minority influence and its implications for attitude change.
• P: Research studies e.g Martin provide clear distinctions bwn the majority and minority, which is a strength in minority influence research.

  E: but, real-world social influence situations involve more complexity, such as power differentials and minority commitment, which are often absent in research settings.

  E: This discrepancy limits the applicability of research findings to real-world scenarios.

  L: => that while controlled experiments offer insights into minority influence dynamics, they may not fully capture the complexities of real-life minority influence situations.
• Point: One limitation of minority influence research is the artificial nature of the tasks involved.

  Evidence: Tasks like identifying the colour of a slide in Moscovici’s study are far removed from real-life situations like jury decision-making or political campaigning.

  Explain: This lack of realism limits the external validity of research findings and their applicability to real-world social situations.

  Link: Thus, this highlights the need for research designs that better reflect the complexities and importance of real-life social influence scenarios.