Minority Influence

• Minority Influence

  Refers to when one person or group of people influence the beliefs and behaviours of others. It is distinct from conformity. The minority influence is most likely to lead to internalisation- as both public behaviour and private beliefs are changed by this process.
• Moscovici's Study:

  A group of 6 people were asked to view a set of 36 blue-coloured slides that varied in intensity, and state whether the slides were blue or green. In each group, there was 2 confederates who consistently said the slides were green. The true p's gave the same wrong answer of green on 8.43% of the trials.

  In the second group, p's were exposed to an inconsistent minority- agreement then fell to 1.25%.

  In the third, there were no confederates, p's then got the colour wrong on 0.25% of trials.
• Consistency

  The minority must be consistent in their views; over time, this increases the interest from people. It can take form in agreement between people in the minority group- Synchronic Consistency: they are all saying the same thing. Or consistency over time- Diachronic Consistency. A consistent minority makes other people rethink their own views- "maybe they have a key point".
• Commitment

  They must demonstrate commitment to their cause/views- sometimes minorities engage in extreme actions to draw attention to their views. These activities must present some form of risk, as this demonstrates a greater commitment. Majority members then pay attention- understanding that they must believe what they are saying to take such risk. This is the Augmentation Principle.
• Flexibility

  Nemeth argued that consistency isn't the only important factor, it can be off-putting. Someone who is seen as consistent may then be viewed as rigid, unbending and dogmatic. This approach alone is unlikely to gain people to the minority position. Instead members must prepare to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable counterarguments.

  The key is to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility.
• Explaining the Process of Change

  If you hear a new perspective, you are more likely to think more deeply about it, especially if the source is flexible, committed and consistent. It is Deeper Processing which aids the conversion to a different viewpoint. The more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion- this is the Snowball Effect. Gradually, the minority view becomes the majority- change has occurred.
• AO3: Research Support

  Moscovici’s blue/green slide study showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on changing the views of other p’s than an inconsistent opinion. Wood el al carried out a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities who are seen as being consistent were most influential. Suggesting a consistent minority is the minimum requirement for minority influence.
• AO3: Research Support for Deeper Processing

  Martin et al presented a message which supported a particular viewpoint and measured p’s agreement. One group heard a minority group agree with the initial view, the other heard a majority group agree with it. P’s were then exposed to a conflicting view and their attitudes were measured again- people were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to the minority group. This demonstrates that the minority message is more deeply processed and has a more enduring effect.
• AO3: Counterpoint to Research Support

  In controlled studies, they are able to make clear distinctions between the majority and minority- though in real-life, it is much more complicated- usually the majority have more power than the minority. In real-life minorities are very committed to their cause- though this can mean individuals face hostile oppression. These features are usually absent in research- the minority is simply the smallest group. Therefore, Martin et al’s findings are limited in what they can show us about minority influence in real-world situations.
• AO3: Artificial Tasks

  Moscovici’s task of identifying a slide colour, and Asch’s line judgement task are both artificial. They are therefore not applicable to real-life situations (such as jury decision-making and political campaigning) where the outcomes are more important, sometimes a matter of life and death. Meaning the findings lack external validity.
• AO3: Power of Minority Influence

  In Moscovici’s study, the figure of agreement with a consistent minority was very low- on average 8%. Suggesting that minority influence is quite rare, and not a useful concept. But when p’s wrote their answers down, they were more likely to agree with the minority view- suggesting that the views expressed by people in the public aren’t a true image of their beliefs. Moscovici thought this was probably due to people not wanting to be associated with the minority position- for fear of being considered 'radical' or 'weird'.