Minority influence

• What is minority influence ?

  a type of social influence that motivates individuals to reject established group norms

  Happens gradually

  Involves a new belief being accepted publicly and privately

  Informational social influence, the minority provides the information
• what is social cryproamnesia?

  the snowball effect

  more and more people change their mind until they are the majority
• how can a minority be persuasive?

  consistency

  confidence

  appears unbiased

  committed

  flexibility

  moderate

  co-operative

  reasonable
• What was the aim of Moscovici et al (1969)?

  To investigate minority influence on majority opinions
• How many groups were involved in Moscovici's study?

  32 groups
• How many participants were in each group of Moscovici's study?

  6 participants
• What was the composition of participants in each group?

  4 real participants and 2 confederates
• What were participants told the study was about?

  It was an investigation into perception
• How many blue slides were shown to participants?

  36 blue slides
• What was the consistent condition in the study?

  Confederates always said the slides were green
• What was the inconsistent condition in the study?

  Confederates said green for 24 out of 36 slides
• How were answers given in the study?

  Verbally in the presence of the group
• What was the percentage agreement with the minority in the consistent condition?

  8.2% agreement
• What percentage of participants agreed at least once in the consistent condition?

  32% agreed at least once
• What was the percentage agreement in the inconsistent condition?

  1.25% agreement
• What does the conclusion suggest about minority influence?

  Consistency is an important variable
• What are the findings regarding consistent and inconsistent conditions?

  • Consistent condition: 8.2% agreement
  • Inconsistent condition: 1.25% agreement
  • Consistency increases minority influence
• How do consistent minorities influence private attitudes?

  They have even greater influence
• What was the gender of participants used in Moscovici's study?

  Female participants
• Why might the results of Moscovici's study not be generalizable?

  Only female participants were used
• What does conformity research suggest about females?

  Females are generally more conformist
• What ethical issue is raised by Moscovici's study?

  It involved deceit and lacked informed consent
• What potential stress might participants have experienced?

  Mild stress during the study
• What important factors in minority influence were not identified in the study?

  Group size, status, or degree of organization
• What did Meyers et al. (2000) find about successful minority groups?

  They were more consistent than unsuccessful groups
• What was the aim of Nemeth's (1986) study?

  To investigate flexibility's effect on minority influence
• What was the procedure of Nemeth's (1986) study?

  • Groups of 3 participants and 1 confederate
  • Decided compensation for a ski lift accident
  • Confederates either argued consistently or compromised slightly
• How many participants were in each group of Nemeth's study?

  3 participants and 1 confederate
• What were the two conditions for the confederate in the study?

  Consistent low amount or slight compromise
• What was the effect of the confederate refusing to compromise?

  Little effect on the majority
• What was the effect of the confederate agreeing to compromise?

  Much greater effect on the majority
• What conclusion can be drawn from Nemeth's (1986) study?

  • Minorities need to be flexible
  • Flexibility increases influence on the majority
  • Consistency alone is not sufficient
• What is the significance of flexibility in minority influence according to the study?

  Flexibility is crucial for being pervasive
• What does the study question about the importance of consistency?

  It questions the importance of consistency