Moscovici - Minority Influence

• Method

  Laboratory experiment.

  192 female participants.

  The women were split into groups of six with two confederates per group. There was one control group with no confederates.

  Groups were asked to identify the colour of 36 slides. All were different shades of blue.

  • The consistent confederates identified all 36 slides as green.
  • The inconsistent confederates identified 12 slides as blue and the other 24 as green.
• Results

  • Groups with consistent confederates - 32% of natural participants identified at least one slide as green. Around 8% of the time, participants identified slides as green.
  • Groups with inconsistent confederates - around 1% of the time, participants identified slides as green.
  • Control group - around 0.25% of the time, participants identified slides as green.
• Conclusion

  Minority groups had more influence when they behaved consistently rather than inconsistently.
• Analysis

  Pros:

  • Control group result - proves that the minority groups had influence.

  Cons:

  • Low ecological validity (cannot be generalised well) - because participants were in an artificial situation.
  • Not generalisable - female participants only
  • ethical issues - deception - participants were not aware of the confederates - therefore no informed consent
• Nemeth et al. (1974) carried out a variation on Moscovici et al. (1969) experiment. They allowed participants to answer with a combination of colours rather than just a single colour.

  Method:

  Two confederates per group.

  The three conditions were:

  • The confederates identified every slide as green.
  • The confederates identified darker slides as green and brighter slides as green-blue.
  • The confederates randomly identified slides as green or green-blue.
• Nemeth

  Results

  Inconsistent behaviour (e.g. the confederates identifying colours randomly) did not influence participants.

  The confederates who identified every slide as green did not influence participants.

  The confederates who identified darker and brighter slides as green and green-blue respectively had a significant influence on participants.
• Nemeth

  Conclusion

  Strict consistency (identifying every slide as green) was not effective. The confederates' responses seemed implausible when they could answer with a combination of colours instead of one.

  Flexible consistency (identifying darker and brighter slides differently) was the most effective.