A03

• What are the strengths of minority influence?

  1. Research support for consistency
  2. Research support for flexibility
• What are the limitations of minority influence?

  1. Surface level explanation
  2. Limited real-world applications
• Strength = research support for consistency

  • Moscovici et al. (1969) studied the effects of a consistent minority on a majority
  • Female participants placed in groups of 6 (2 confederates) and shown 36 slides of different shades of blue
  • Consistent minority responses (called slides green everytime) had a greater impact on the majority
  • Wood et al. (1994) carried out a meta-analysis of 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were consistent were the most influential
• Strength = research support for flexibility

  • Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987) created a simulated jury situation
  • Group members discussed amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in a ski-lift accident
  • When confederate put forward an alternative point of view and refused to change his position this had no effect on other group members
  • A confederate who compromised and showed some degree of shift towards the majority did exert an influence on the rest of the group
• Limitation = surface level explanation

  • Nemeth (2010) claims that it is still difficult to convince people of the values of dissent
  • People accept the principle only on the surface but quickly become irritated by a dissenting view that persists
  • They may also fear creating a lack of harmony within the group by welcoming dissent or be made to fear repercussions, such as being ridiculed by being associated with a ‘deviant’ point of view
• Limitation = limited real-world applications

  • Research studies have made a very clear obvious distinction between the majority and the minority
  • However, real-life social influence situations are much more complicated than this
  • E.g. majorities usually have a lot more power and status than minorities
  • The controlled conditions in which research investigating majority and minority influence are based on do not accurately encompass the complex circumstances in which social influence occurs in everyday life