Minority Influence

• What is minority influence?

  • Where one person/small group of people influence the beliefs and behaviour of other people, most likely to lead to internalisation
• What is consistency in minority influence?

  • When the minority must be consistent in their views over time, increasing other people's interest
  • Synchronic consistency - the group all agree on the same thing
  • Diachronic consistency - the group have been agreeing on the same thing for a while
  • Consistency makes people rethink their own views and beliefs
• What is commitment in minority influence?

  • Minority must demonstrate commitment to their cause/views, can sometimes engage in extreme activities to draw attention
  • It is important that these include a level of risk as this shows greater commitment - will lead to the majority paying even more attention as it shows dedication and seriousness
  • Augmentation principle: when actions are carried out despite great opposition or difficulties their beliefs appear strong and valid
• How do the 3 factors of minority influence lead to change?

  • Deeper processing: hearing something new and thinking more deeply about it, especially if the source is consistent, committed and flexible
  • Conversion: over time, increasing numbers of people switch from the majority position to the minority i.e. 'convert'
  • Snowball effect: the more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion - gradually the minority view becomes the majority view and change has occurred
• What is one strength of minority influence?

  • Research support for consistency: Moscovici et al. (1969) presented a group of 6 people with a set of 36 blue slides that varied in shade intensity, and asked them to state whether the slides were blue or green - 2 confederates consistently said green in every trial
  • True ppts. also said green on 8.42% of trials
  • 2nd group was exposed to an inconsistent minority where confeds said green 24 times and blue 12 times - agreement with green fell to 1.25%
  • Shows a consistent minority opinion has a greater effect on changing other people's views than an inconsistent opinion
• What is another strength of minority influence?

  • Research support for deeper processing: Martin et al (2003) presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint - one group heard a minority group agree with the initial view, another heard a majority group agree with it
  • Ppts. were then exposed to a conflicting view and attitudes were measured - those who heard the minority group were less willing to change their opinions
  • Suggests the minority message had been more deeply processed with a more enduring effect, supporting central predictions
• What is one limitation of minority influence?

  • Artificial tasks: Moscovici's task of identifying colour slides was meaningless and shows research is far removed from how minorities attempt to change majority behaviour in real life
  • Cases such as jury decision-making and political campaigning often involve vastly important outcomes, sometimes matters of life or death
  • Findings of minority influence studies lack external validity and are limited in what they can tell us about how minority influence works in real-world situations
• What is another limitation of minority influence?

  • Ignores dispositional factors: may be due to the personality of those advocating for the cause rather than these factors
  • Charismatic cult leaders like Charles Manson and freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela influenced the majority based of dispositional factors rather than the 3 processes outlined
  • Suggests these theories cannot explain all situations where the minority has successfully influenced the majority