Minority influence

• ao1: minority influence

  • Refers to how one person or small group influences the beliefs and behaviour of other people.
  • The minority may influence just one person, or a group of people (the majority) - this is different from conformity where the majority does the influencing (Conformity is sometimes referred to as 'majority influence')
  • Minority influence leads to internalisation, meaning both public and private beliefs are changed, and that three processes to minority influence: consistency, commitment,flexibility
• ao1: commitment- showing deep involvement

  • Helps gain attention eg through extreme activities.
  • Activities must create some risk to the minority to demonstrate commitment to the cause
  • Augmentation principle majority pay even more attention ('Wow, he must really believe in what he's saying, so perhaps I ought to consider his view')
• ao1: consistency- always doing the same thing 


  • Means the minority's view gains more interest
  • Consistency makes others rethink their own views ('Maybe they've got a point if they all think this way and they have kept saying it').
  • Synchronic consistency people in the minority are all saying the same thing.
  • Diachronic consistency - they've been saying the same thing for some time.
• ao1: flexibility- Showing willingness to listen to others


  • The minority should balance consistency and flexibility so they don't appear rigid.
  • Nemeth (1986) argued that being consistent and repeating the same arguments and behaviours is seen as rigid and off-putting to the majority.
  • Instead, the minority should adapt their point of view and accept reasonable counterarguments
• ao1: Explaining the process of minority influence


  • Individuals think deeply about the minority position because it is new/unfamiliar
  • Snowball effect-over time, more people become 'converted' (like a snowball gathering more snow as it rolls along). There is a switch from the minority to the majority.
  • The more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion
  • Gradually the minority view becomes the majority and social change has occurred
• ao3: One strength is research supporting consistency

  • Moscovici et al. (1969) found a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion.
  • Wood et al. (1994) conducted a meta- analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities seen as being consistent were most influential.
  • This confirms that consistency is a major factor in minority influence
• ao3:Another strength is research showing role of deeper processing.

  • Martin et al. (2003) gave participants a message supporting a particular viewpoint, and measured attitudes. Then they heard an endorsement of view from either a minority or a majority. Finally heard a conflicting view, attitudes measured again.
  • Participants were less willing to change their opinions to the new conflicting view if they had listened to a minority group than if they listened to a majority group.
  • This suggests that the minority message had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect.
• ao3: COUNTERPOINT TO STRENGTH ABOUT ROLE OF DEEPER PROCESSING

  • In research studies (e.g. Martin et al.) majority/minority groups distinguished in terms of numbers. But there is more to majorities/ minorities than just numbers (e.g. power, status, commitment).
  • This means research studies are limited in what they tell us about real- world minority influence.
• ao3: One limitation is minority influence research

  • Moscovici et al's task was identifying the colour of a slide, far removed from how minorities try to change majority opinion in the real world.
  • In jury decision- making and political campaigning, outcomes are vastly more important, maybe a matter of life or death.
  • Findings of studies lack external validity and are limited in what they tell us about how minority influence works in real-world situations.