Minority A03

Cards (12)

  • Moscovici et al- Research support

    Consistent minority opinion has greater effect on other people than inconsistent opinion
  • Wood et al
    Carried out meta-analysing almost 100 similar studies, found minorities being consistent to be most influential
  • Martin et al
    Gave ppts a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured their support. 1 group of ppts heard a minority agree with initial view and other group heard from majority group
  • Martin et al's findings

    People were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to a minority group than majority
  • Enduring effect
    Minority message had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect, supporting central argument about how minority influence works
  • Artificial tasks
    Tasks like identifying colour of slides was artificial, far removed research from how minorities attempt to change behaviour of majority in real life
  • Example of how minorities change behaviour
    Jury decision making and political campaigning
  • External validity
    Studies like Moscovici's lack external validity and limited to tell us about how minority influence works in real life
  • Variety of Moscovici's exp
    Ppts allowed to write their answer down on paper, privately. Private agreement with minority was greater.
  • Embarrassed of agreeing with minority
    Majority agreed with Minorities argument but were reluctant to admit this. Moscovici thought they did not want to be associated with minorities to not be called 'radical'
  • Limited real life applications
    Real life social influence= complicated. Majority usually involves power and status while minorities are committed to their cause due to often faced hostile opposition.
  • Minority groups

    On the other hand, they could be tight-knit groups whose members know each other very well.