minority influence

• majority influence: people identify with majority to try and fit with their opinions without careful scrutiny of the message
• minority influence: creates conversion process where people in the majority start to scrutinise the message itself
• conversion to minority tends to be deeper and longer lasting as people have internalised the message of minority
• behavioural styles minority must have to bring about conversion process

  1. consistency
  2. commitment
  3. flexibility
• consistency:

  • people first assume minority thinking is an error
  • if the minority are consistent in expressing their position, others will reassess the situation and consider the issue more carefully
• commitment:

  • suggests certainty, confidence, and courage in the face of majority
  • joining minority has a greater cost to individual than staying in the majority, so minorities show a greater level of commitment
  • may persuade members of majority to them them more seriously / convert
• flexibility:

  • flexibility more effective at changing majority than rigid arguments
  • Minorities must negotiate their position to the majority than just enforce it
  • but if too flexible, seems inconsistent
• moscovici et al (1969) procedure

  • each group of four naive participants and a minority of two confederates
  • shown a series of blue slides that varied in intensity
  • in consistent trial, confederates called blue slides green in every trial
  • in inconsistent trial, confederates called blue slides green in 2/3 of trial
• moscovici et al (1969) findings

  • consistent minority trial influenced participants to say green in over 8% of trials
  • inconsistent trial showed no significant difference to control trial
• (+) research support for importance of flexibility

  E: study found confederates who compromised with the majority were most influential

  C/A: being too flexible too early showed weakens influence as it locks inconsistent and uncommitted

  L: shows support for consistency and commitment
• (+) support for value of minority influence in decision making

  E: study found that better decisions were made when a dissenting minority was present

  E: another study found that dissent opens the mind, making us search for more info and consider more options
• (-) minority influence not always effective because we do not process minority message deeply

  E: a study found that we do not spend as much time processing why a minority's message is different to that of the majority

  L: thus minority message less influential than the majorities