minority influence

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Created by
Maddy l

Cards (12)

  • Minority influence occurs when a minority (small group) changes the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of a majority
  • Factors that can enhance the effectiveness of a minority
    • Consistency
    • Commitment
    • Flexibility
  • Consistency

    1. Minority members share the same belief and retain it over time
    2. Draws the attention of the majority group to the minority position
  • Augmentation principle

    Minorities engage in very risky or extreme behaviour to draw attention to their views, demonstrating commitment to their cause, which the majority then pays more attention to
  • Flexibility

    Minority is willing to compromise, so they cannot be viewed as dogmatic and unreasonable
  • Moscovici found that in the consistent condition, the real participants agreed on 8.2% of the trials, whereas in the inconsistent condition, the real participants only agreed on 1.25% of the trials
  • Nemeth found that in the inflexible condition, the minority had little or no effect on the majority; however, in the flexible condition, the majority members were much more likely to also compromise and change their view
  • The staff told the students that the sixth form could become 'paper-free' if they could convince the rest of the students it was a great idea

    The factors that will determine how successful the students are at influencing the rest of the students include consistency, commitment and flexibility
  • Control group

    A group that acts as a comparison and is not exposed to the independent variable
  • Consistency

    Displaying consistency of viewpoint and intended outcome
  • How the small group of students can be successful in convincing the rest of the sixth form to go 'paper-free'
    1. Demonstrate consistency and commitment
    2. Show flexibility in their views
    3. Use social cryptoamnesia or snowball effect
    4. Influence through informational social influence/internalisation
  • Moscovici (1969) and Nemeth (1986) concluded that a consistent, committed and flexible minority is most effective in influencing an individual