Social Influence - Minority Influence

• Who was the first to identify the process of minority influence as a contrast to majority influence?

  Moscovici
• What is meant by minority influence?

  A form of social influence where a minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs and attitudes

  Leads to internalisation or conversion where private attitudes and public are changed
• ‘Minority influence refers to where one person or small group of people influences the behaviours and beliefs of others‘ True/False


  True
• How is minority influence distinct from conformity?

  Because it’s not majority doing the influencing

  Minority influence likely to lead to internalization
• Through what study did Moscovici study minority influence?

  • Blue slide, green slide study
• What is Moscovici’s blue slide, green slide study?

  • Groups asked to view set of 36 blue coloured slides that varied in shade intensity
  • Had to state whether it’s green or blue
  • 2 confederates in each group consistently said slides were green - Ppts gave same wrong green answer on 8.42% of trials
  • 2nd group of ppts exposed to inconsistent minority - confederates said green 24x and blue 12x - Answer of green fell to 1.25%
  • Control group - no confederates - gave green answer 0.25%
• What are the 3 processes of minority influence?

  Consistency

  Commitment

  Flexibility
• Explain the consistency process in minority influence

  • Minority must be consistent in views
  • Over time increases amount of interest from others
  • Consistent minority makes others rethink their own views
  • Synchronic consistency & Diachronic consistency
• What are the 2 forms of consistency?

  Synchronic consistency - all saying the same thing

  Diachronic consistency - saying the same thing for some time
• Explain the commitment process in minority influence

  • Minority must demonstrate commitment to their cause
  • Sometimes engage in extreme activities to draw attention
  • If it presents some risk to the minority this shows greater commitment & majority group members then pay more attention (augmentation principle)
• What is the augmentation principle?

  When a minority participates in extreme activities which present risk hence showing great commitment and majority members paying attention
• Explain the flexibility process in minority influence

  • Extreme consistency, repeating old arguments can be off putting and seen as rigid and dogmatic
  • Unlikely to gain many converts to minority position
  • Need to be prepared to adapt their POV and accept valid counterarguments
  • Key to strike a balance between flexibility & consistency
• Who argued the minority should be prepared to adapt and be flexible instead of rigid and unbending in consistent views?

  Nemeth
• Explain the process of change

  • 3 processes make people think about the minority’s cause
  • Hearing something new from a source which is consistent, committed and flexible will make people listen
  • Deeper processing important in process of conversion to minority viewpoint
  • More switching = faster rate of conversion
  • (The Snowball Effect) Gradually the minority viewpoint becomes the majority view & change occurs
• What are the evaluation points for minority influence?

  • Research support for deeper processing (Martin)
  • Counterpoint (In real life social influence situations majorities have more power)
  • Artifical tasks (Moscovici’s slide study)
• What is the strength that there is research support for deeper processing (Martin)?

  • Evidence showing a change in majority’s opinion involves deeper processing of minority’s ideas
  • Martin presented a message supporting particular viewpoint & measured ppts agreement
  • 1 group heard minority group agree while another group heard majority agree
  • Then ppts exposed to conflicting view and attitudes measured again
  • People less willing to change opinions if they listened to minority group
  • Suggests minority message was more deeply processed and had more enduring effect supporting central argument
• What is the counterpoint to research support for deeper processing?

  • Research studies (e.g. Martin) make clear distinctions between majority and minority
  • In real world social influence situations it’s more complicated
  • Majorities have more power and status than minorities
  • Minorities committed to their causes because they face hostile opposition
  • These features are often absent in research
  • So Martin’s findings are limited in what it can tell us about minority influence in real world situations
• What is the limitation of artificial tasks involved in minority influence?

  • Artificial like Asch’s line judgement task
  • Includes Moscovici’s task of identifying the color of a slide
  • So research is removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life
  • In cases like jury decision making the outcomes are vastly important - research does not reflect this
  • Findings of minority influence research is lacking in external validity
  • Limited in what it can tell us about how minority influence works in real world situations