minority influence eval

• strength of MI to do with research support for consistency

  Research support for consistency demonstrates its importance

  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 carried out a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities seen as being consistent were most influential

  This suggests that consistency is a major factor in minority influence
• limitation of MI to do with artificial tasks

  Identifying the colour of a slide is artificial, lacks generalisability

  Research is far removed from how minorities attempt to change behaviour of majorities in real life

  In cases such as jury decision making and political campaigning, outcomes are important

  This means findings of MI studies such as Moscovici lack external validity + are limited in what they can tell us about how MI works in real-life situations.

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• strength of MI to do with research support

  Research support for flexibility-Nemeth and Brilmayer studied the role of flexibility in a stimulated jury situation where group members discussed the amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in a ski-lift accident.

  When a confederate put forward an alternative pov and refused to change his position, it had no effect on other group members

  A confederate who compromised and therefore showed some degree of shift towards the majority did exert an influence on the rest of the group
• limitation of MI to do with limited real-world application

  Research studies usually make a very clear and obvious distinction between maj and min. In fact, being able to do this in a controlled way is a strength of MI research

  But real-life social influence situations are more complicated than this. More is involved in difference between maj and min than just numbers

  For e.g, majs usually have a lot more power and status than mins. Mins are very committed to their causes-they have to be bc they often face hostile opposition

  Therefore such research doesn't always reflect real-life issues