minority influence

• minority influence

  is a form of social influence where a persuasive minority exert pressure to change the attitudes or behaviours of the majority.

  minorities are most influential when they appear consistent and principled, e.g. the suffragettes
• minority influence: moscovici (1969)- ai

  aim:

  to demonstrate whether a minority can influence a majority of naive ppts, and thus reverse the usual direction of social influence. moscovici et al. aimed to determine the conditions neccessary for this to occur, in particular, the necessity for the minority to be consistent in their opinions
• moscovici (1969)

  procedure:

  • ppts werepre-tested to check for colour blindness
  • all ppts were female because he thought they would be more interested in colour
  • altogether there were 32 groups of 6
  • lab exp was carried out which ppts were randomly allocated to either consistent, inconsistent, or control condition
  • each condition involved 6 ppts being present at the same time:
  • 4 naive ppts (majority) and 2 confederates (minority)
• moscovici (1969)- procedure

  procedure (continued):

  • ppts were asked to describe the colour of 36 slides, all which were blue but had different filters
  • in the consistent condition: the 2 confederates describe all 36 slides as green
  • in the inconsistent condition: the 2 confederates described 24 of the 36 slides as green and the other 12 as blue
  • in the control condition, there were no confederates
  • minority influece was measured by the % of naive ppts who yielded the confederates by calling the blue slide green.
• moscovici (1969)

  findings:

  • in the consistent condition: 8.42% of ppts answered green and 32% conformed at least once
  • in the inconsistent condition: 1.2% of the ppts answered green
  • in the control condition: only 0.25% of the ppts answered green
  • thus, the consistent condition showed the greatest yielding to minority influence
  • in a follow up study, both experimental groups were more likely to report ambiguous blue/green slides as green compared to the control group
• moscovici (1969)

  conclusion:

  the minority can have influence over the majority, and this minority influence is more effective when the minority is consistent. the fact the minorities are more persuasive when they are consistent has implications for people in leaderships positions who are hoping to influence the majority.
• moscovici strengths

  • Clark (1994) conducted an experiment on social influence in a jury setting.
  • Participants read a transcript of arguments presented in a film about twelve angry men.
  • The one juror initially believed the defendant was guilty, but gradually changed their minds.
  • Social influence occurred in both groups, but was strongest when participants read the arguments and knew others eventually agreed.
  • This suggests wider academic support for minorities influencing the majority.
• moscovici strengths

  • has high reliability
  • this is because he carried his research out in a controlled where he had complete laboratory control over his IV, DV and allextraneous variables.
  • suggests that if this research was tested and re-tested the same results would be achieved.
• moscovici weaknesses

  • lacks ecological validity
  • the controlled laboratory setting lacks relevance to real-life situations.
  • artificial tasks, like identifying slide color, are not representative of minority influence.
  • the research's limitations include inability to apply to real-life situations like political leaders' views or jury decision-making.
• moscovici weaknesses

  • limited validity due to limited population.
  • focused on female participants, assuming color interest.
  • results may not apply to the entire population.
• consistency

  • when first exposed to a minority with different view = assume they are in error
  • however, if adopt a consistent approach, others come to reassess the situation
  • wood et al. (1994) carried out a meta-analysis = found consistent minorities were influential
• commitment

  • suggest certainty, confidence and courage to face the majority
  • the greater commitment = persuade majority to take seriously
• flexibility

  • mugny (1982) suggests flexibility is more effective at changing majority opinion
  • minority must negotiate position rather than try to enforce it
  • a rigid minority that refuses to compromise risks are percieved as dogmatic
  • however, a minoirty that is too flexible + prepared to compromise, risks being seen as inconsistent
  • neither approaches particularly effective at persuading majority to shift, but some degree of flexibility is more effective than none at all.