A01

• Outline what is meant by minority influence

  A form of social influence where members of the majority group change their beliefs or behaviours as a result of their exposure to a persuasive minority
• State the three behavioural styles needed to enhance the influence of the minority

  1. Commitment

  2. Consistency

  3. Flexibility
• Define commitment

  The degree to which members of a minority are dedicated to a particular cause or activity - the greater the commitment, the greater the influence
• Define consistency

  Minority influence is effective when the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over time, and between different members of the minority group
• State the two types of consistency

  1. Synchronic consistency

  2. Diachronic consistency
• Outline synchronic consistency

  Consistency between people in the minority
• Outline diachronic consistency

  Consistency over time
• Define the snowball effect

  The more people who 'convert' to the minority view the faster the rate of conversion
• Describe the procedure of Moscovici et al.'s (1969) study showing support for consistency in influencing the majority


  - 172 female, American participants were tested to ensure that they were not colour blind

  - In groups of 6 (2 were confederates) participants were asked to state the colour of 36 slides - all of the slides were different shades of blue

  - In condition A - confederates were consistent and called the slides green on all trials

  - In condition B - the confederates were inconsistent and called the slides green 24 times and blue 12 times
• Describe the results of Moscovici et al.'s (1969) study

  When they were in a group where confederates consistently gave wrong answer (called slides green) participants answered 'green' in 8.42% of trials compared to 1.25% of trials in inconsistent group
• What is the augmentation principle?

  The riskier the actions, the more commitment this demonstrates
• What is flexibility?

  Minority influence is effective when they show a willingness to compromise when expressing a position