Minority Influence

• :) RTS Moscovici

  > two confederates sat with a majority group of six participants

  > shown blue slides that differed in intensity and had to state the colour

  > minority inconsistently called the blue slides 'green', participants gave that same wrong answer 1% of the time

  > minority consistently called the blue slides 'green', participants gave the same wrong answer 8% of the time

  > supports consistency
• :( Moscovici - lacks mundane realism

  > used an unrealistic task of stating the colour of a slide

  > difficult to generalise to real life situations where the outcomes are more important e.g. a minority may be less influential in a jury setting when deciding the verdict for a serious crime

  > lowers the external validity
• :) RTS Nemeth and Brilmayer

  > created a mock jury situation to decide on the amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in a ski-lift accident

  > when the confederate put forward an alternative point and refused to change, there was no effect on the other members

  > when the confederate compromised, they had an influence of the rest of the group

  > supports flexibility