minority influence

• Asch found that when one of the confederates did not conform, and gave the actual correct answer, conformity levels in the participant dropped to one quarter of what they were when the majority had been unanimous
• Diachronic consistency


  When the group remains consistent over time – they do not change their views over time
• Synchronic consistency


  When the group is consistent between all the members of the group – everyone in the group has the same views, and therefore agree with and support each other
• Commitment


  When the minority have so much passion and confidence in their point of view, it suggests to the majority that their view must somehow be valid, and it encourages them to explore why; offering more opportunity to be influenced
• Flexibility


  Being too consistent can suggest that the minority is inflexible, uncompromising and irrational, making their argument less appealing to the majority. However, if they appear flexible, compromising and rational, they are less likely to be seen as extremists and attention seekers
• Martin et al (2003) demonstrated that there is a greater degree of internalisation of a minority view, compared to a majority view
• The emphasis of consistency, commitment and flexibility have a real-life application because they can inform minority groups about the best way to behave in order to exert a maximum amount of influence
• A key issue with Moscovici's study in particular is the reliance on artificial tasks and stimuli, meaning that such methodology lacks mundane realism and the findings are likely to lack ecological validity
• Minority influence is the main cause of social change, where the minority group manages to persuade the majority to adopt their point of view by being consistent, committed and flexible
• When the minority begins to be successful in their attempts to influence the majority, it triggers a snowball effect as the new idea spreads and builds up over time in the majority, to eventually be adopted as the majority opinion
• An example of social change is the shift in attitudes towards race and sexuality, where being racist and homophobic used to be the norm, but after influences from minority groups, it eventually became accepted as the new norm
• Minority influence


  Minority changes others' opinions through internalisation (both public & private behaviour/beliefs are changed)
• Consistency


  • Makes others rethink their own views,
  • synchronic consistency - minority are all saying the same thing,
  • diachronic consistency - minority have been saying the same thing for some time
• Commitment


  • Helps gain attention as activities create some risk to the minority to demonstrate commitment to the cause, augmentation principle - doing something despite the risks shows commitment
• Flexibility


  • Minority should balance consistency & flexibility so they don't appear rigid, adapt their p.o.v. & accept reasonable counter-points
• Snowball Effect


  Minority becomes majority (social change), over time, more people become 'converted' (switch from minority > majority), the more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion
• Consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion
• Minorities seen as consistent were most influential
• Moscovici's task was identifying the colour of a slide, far removed from how minorities try to change majority opinion in real life
• Majorities usually have power & status, minorities are committed & tight-knit groups whose members know & support each other
• Civil Rights marches drew attention to segregation, consistent marches, deeper processing, augmentation principle, snowball effect, social cryptomnesia
• Dissenters make social change more likely as they break majority power encouraging others to dissent
• Majority influence & normative social influence (NSI) - environmental & health campaigns exploit conformity by appeal to NSI
• Disobedient models make change more likely as they encourage others to do the same
• Gradual commitment leads to 'drift', once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes more difficult to resist a bigger one
• Minority influence effects are indirect & delayed, it took decades for attitudes against drink-driving & smoking to shift
• People are less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways because they want to avoid the minority label of 'environmentalists'
• Criticisms apply to the evaluation of explanation for the link between social influence process & social change