AO1 - Minority Influence

• Minority Influence: A form of social influence where members of the majority group change their beliefs or behaviours because of the minority influencing their decision. (1) This usually leads to internalisation. The minority must be consistent, show commitment and be flexible in their behaviour. (1)
• Consistency: If the minority keep repeating the same beliefs to the majority, both over time (diachronic synchrony) and between all individuals that form the minority (synchronic consistency), the majority then reassess the situation and consider the minority idea more carefully.
• Commitment: When the minority show dedication and make personal sacrifices, e.g. time, when facing a majority. Some minorities engage in quite extreme activities to draw attention to their views. If these activities present some risk to the minority, this shows greater commitment. Majority groups may even pay even more attention - this is known as the augmentation principle.
• Flexibility: Too much consistency can be seen as dogmatic and rigid and may stop the majority moving over to the minority viewpoint. Members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable counter arguments. The key is to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility.
• Moscovici's research:

  • 172 female participants in a lab experiment - 2 conditions
  • condition 1 - minority group of two people inconsistently called a set of blue slides "green", showing little commitment, this has little effect on the majority as only 1% changed their minds and the rest called the slides blue
  • condition 2 - minority group called all of the blue slides "green", they were consistent and committed so 8% of the majority changed their minds to be in line with the majority
  • shows the importance of consistency and commitment