Minority influence

• What is minority influence?

  When the minority rejects the established norm of the majority
• How can the minority influence the majority? Name the three factors

  • Commitment
  • Consistency
  • Flexibility
• What is the commitment factor?

  • risk taking behaviour and passion grabs public attention
  • Demonstrates commitment to the cause if you are willing to inconvenience yourself / risk your safety
  • Further increases interest away from majority = augmentation principle
• What is the consistency factor?

  • always keep the message the same
  • Allows the minority to appear confident and unbiased
  • Synchronic (all saying the same thing) and diachronic (over a long time)
• How can consistency be synchronic or diachronic?

  • synchronic -> people in the minority are all saying the same thing
  • Diachronic -> people in the minority have been saying the same thing for a long time
• What is the flexibility factor?

  • Showing willingness to listen to others’ perspectives and opinions = more persuasive
• Minority influence is most likely to change both public and private beliefs -> internalisation
• What is the snowball effect?

  • overtime people become converted
  • Gradual process - a few people join then more, and more, and more etc
  • Reaches a tipping point where the minority becomes the majority
• Strength of the consistency factor?

  • Moscovici et all (1969)
  • Group of 6 (4ppts, 2 confederates)
  • Shown 36 slides clearly shades of blue
  • Asked to state colour of each slide out loud
  • Condition 1 = confederates answered green for every slide (consistent) = ppts gave wrong answer of green 8.42% of the time
  • Condition 2 = confederates mixed blue and green (not consistent) = ppts gave wrong answer 1.25% of the time
  • Inconsistent = lower conformity
• Strength of flexibility?

  • Nemeth (1986)
  • Ppts in groups of 4 (1 was a confederate)
  • had to agree on the amount of compensation they would give a victim of a ski lift accident
  • Confederate argued for lower compensation
  • Condition 1= inflexible - refused to change opinion = minority had little or no effect on the majority
  • Condition 2= flexible - compromised by offering a slightly higher rate of compensation = majority much more likely to compromise on their view
• Weakness - generalisability

  • artificial studies
  • E.g. Moscovici - real life situations are far more complex than stating a colour = unrealistic + doesn’t reflect everyday life -> lack of external validity and mundane realism
  • Power and status not just numbers - studies can’t capture this
  • Minority influence creates potential for change but may not lead directly to change
• Weakness - the factors contradict themselves

  • consistency and flexibility
  • It is hard / impossible to argue a point consistently and then be flexible around this point without reducing consistency
  • If you argue consistently for low pay but then have a flexible wiggle room - you are no longer consistent
  • = incomplete explanation