Evaluation

• One of the most influential experiments of minority influence was conducted by Moscovici (1969). He wanted to see if a consistent minority could influence the majority to give an incorrect answer, in a colour perception task His sample consisted of female participants, the participants were placed in groups of six and shown 36 slides, which were all varying shades of blue. The participants had state out loud the colour of each slide.In each group there was two confederates
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  In the first group the two confederates consistently said the slides were green for every slide.

  
  

  In the second group the two confederates were inconsistent and answered green 24 times and blue 12 times. In the consistent condition, the real participants agreed on 8.42% of the trials, whereas in the inconsistent condition, the real participants only agreed on 1.25% of the trials. This shows that a consistent minority were 6.95% more successful in

  changing the opinion of the majority than an inconsistent minority.
• This shows that a consistent minority were 6.95% more successful in changing the opinion of the majority than an inconsistent minority.
• There is research evidence that demonstrates the importance of consistency. Moscovici et al.’s study showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion. Wood et al. (1994) carried out a meta-analyses of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential. This is a strength because it suggests that consistency is a major factor in minority influence.
• Artificial task

  A limitation of minority influence Research is that the tasks involved are artificial And don’t reflect real life activities.In cases such as jury decision making And political campaigning, the outcomes are Vastly more important; sometimes a matter of Life and death, which does not compare to Stating what colour a slide is. This is a weakness because the research Lacks external validity; the studies are limited in What they can tells us about how a minority Works in real life social situations.
• Low ecological validity

  Moscovici used a very insignificant exercise, i.e. a silly disagreement over a slide that is very obviously blue. This is not the sort of thing we normally disagree over, so does it tell us anything about minority influence works in real life situations The presence of demand characteristics lowers the internal validity of the study (it does not measure what it is meant to measure).
• Population validity

  Moscovici used a bias sample of 172 female participants from America they only tell us about the behaviour of female students. As a result, we are unable to generalise the results to other populations, for example male participants, and we cannot conclude that male participants would respond to minority influence in the same way. Furthermore, research often suggests that females are more likely to conform than males, Therefore, further research is required to determine the effect of minority
• Ethical issues

  Moscovici has also been criticised for deceiving his participants, as participants were told that they were taking part in a colour perception test. This means that Moscovici did not gain full informed consent. Although it is seen as unethical to deceive participants, Moscovici’s experiment required deception in order to achieve valid results. If the participants were aware of the true aim, they might have displayed demand characteristics and acted differently.
• Controlled lab conditions

  A strength of Moscovici’s research is that he carried out his study under controlled Laboratory conditions. This means that he was able to isolate and control the variables that were Important so he could see the effects of on the participants’ willingness to remain independent Or to conform to the minority.
• This is an advantage as the close control Moscovici used means that the experiment Could be replicated by other psychologists to see whether similar or different results are Obtained under the same conditions. If the same results are found, then this adds to the Reliability of the conclusions that were made about why people conform.