minority influence

• what is minority influence?

  • social influence can occur when a minority (small group) changes the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours of a majority.
• what are the different factors that can enhance the effectiveness of a minority?

  • consistency
  • commitment
  • flexibility
• the effect of consistency?

  • consistency refers to the way in which minority influence is more likely to occur when the minority members share the same belief and retain it over time.
  • this then draws the attention of the majority group to the minority position.
  • Moscovici (1969) conducted one of the most influential experiments investigating minority influence.
• Moscovici (1969) experiment:


  • aimed to see if a consistent minority could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer, in a colour perception task.
  • 172 female participants were divided into six groups, four of which were majority members and two of which were minority confederates. In the consistent condition, they said that all 36 slides were green, and in the inconsistent condition, they said that 24 of the slides were green and 12 were blue.
  • M found that in the first condition, the real participants agreed on 8.2% of the trials, second condition, real participants agreed 1.25%
• what was concluded in Moscovici's experiment?

  • Moscovici's results show that a consistent minority is 6.95% more effective than an inconsistent minority and that consistency is an important factor in exerting minority influence.
• the effect of commitment?

  • on occasion, minorities sometimes engage in very risky or extreme behaviour to draw attention to their views. these behaviours must place the minority at risk for them to demonstrate commitment to their cause.
  • this is called the augmentation principle.
  • so the majority in turn pays more attention to the actions being taken and is therefore more likely to intergrate it into their personal viewpoints, augmenting its importance.
• the effect of flexibility?

  • flexibility refers to the way in which minority influence is more likely to occur when the minority is willing to compromise.
  • this means they cannot be viewed as dogmatic and unreasonable.
  • Nemeth (1986) investigated this.
• Nemeth (1986) experiment:


  • set about investigating the idea of flexibility as a key characteristic of successful minorities who exert pressure.
  • participants, in groups of 4, had to agree on the amount of compensation they would give to a victim of a ski-lift accident.
  • one in each group was a confederate and there were 2 conditions; one was inflexible and the other flexible.
  • Nemeth found that in the inflexible condition, the minority had little/no effect on the majority but in the flexible condition, majority members were much more likely to compromise and change their view.
• what were the 2 conditions in Nemeth's experiment?

  1. when the minority argued for a low rate of compensation and refused to change their position (inflexible).
  2. when the minority argued for a low rate of compensation but compromised by offering a slightly higher rate of compensation (flexible).
• what did Nemeth conclude?

  • Nemeth's research highlights the importance of flexibility, and questions the idea of consistency, suggesting that striking a balance between the two is the most successful strategy for a minority to adopt.
• evaluation of minority influence:

  • Moscovici used a biased sample of 172 female participants from America. as a result, unable to generalise the results to other populations, e.g. male participants, and we cannot conclude that males would respond to minority influence in the same way.
  • research also suggests that females are more likely than males to conform and therefore further research is required on males to improve the low population validity of this experiment.
• evaluation of minority influence:

  • Moscovici was also criticised for breaking ethical guidelines. he deceived his participants as they were told that they were taking part in a colour perception test when in fact is was an experiment on minority influence.
  • also means he did not gain fully informed consent.
  • although it is unethical to deceive participants, his experiment required deception in order to gain valid results and for his participants to not display demand characteristics.
• evaluation of minority influence:

  • methodological issues - judging the colour of a slide is an artificial task and therefore lacks mundane realism, since it is not something that occurs every day.
  • lacks external validity as real-world cases are grossly disproportionate to a lab setting.
• evaluation of minority influence:

  • Moscovici's research provides support for ISI - in one of his variations, participants were asked to write down their answers instead of saying the colour out loud.
  • this meant that their response was private and not shared. it was found that agreement with the minority position was higher, suggesting that they had internalised the viewpoint as true and correct.