Minority influence

• Minority influenceIt is when a small group of people try to influence others through internalisation 

  Consistency

  The group should be consistent with their views as it increases the interest from others and makes them rethink their view. Synchronic consistency: all of the people within the group think the same thing. Diachronic consistency: all of the people within the group have been thinking the same thing for a while
• Commitment

  The group engage in extreme activities making others pay attention (augmentation principle)

  Flexibility

  People in groups who repeat the same arguments are dogmatic, decreasing the likelihood of gaining interest from others. Members of the group have to be ready to adapt their views and have valid counterarguments

  Explaining the process of change

  Hearing something you don't already agree with makes you think deeply about it, especially if the source is all three factors. Minority becomes the majority (snowball effect)
• Limitation the task is artificial. This includes Moscovici green/blue slide study. Researchers therefore far removed how minorities attempt to change majorities in real life. In jury making decisions and political campaigning outcomes are serious as can mean life or death. Means the findings lack external validity and are limited in what they can tell us about minority influence in real world social situations. 
• Strength, importance of consistency. Moscovici green/ blue slide study showed consistent minority opinion better than inconsistent minority opinion. Consistent minority opinion 8.42%, inconsistent 1.25%. Wood 1994 meta analysis almost 100 studies found consistent minorities most influential. Suggested consistency is a minimum requirement for minority influencing the majority.
• Strength evidence showing that change in majority position involves deeper processing of minority ideas. Martin 2003 presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured pps agreement. One group of pps heard the minority group agree then another group heard the majority group agree. Pps were finally exposed to conflicting views and attitudes were measured again. People less willing to change if they listened to a minority group than if they listened to the majority group. Means the minority message is more deeply thought and means it has been endured.
• But pieces of research like Martin clearly define majority and minority. But it is more complex as majorities have status and power where minorities don't and they are put in hostile situations which are usually absent from the research. Therefore the findings are limited about minority influence in the real world.