minority influence

• MINORITY INFLUENCE:

  • form of social influence where a minority of people convince others to adopt their beliefs and behaviours.
  • leads to internalisation / convertion of private and public attitudes.
• EXAMPLES OF MINORITY INFLUENCE:

  • nelson mandela.
  • BLM.
  • LGBTQ+ rights.
  • nazism.
• MOSCOVICI'S STUDY - BLUE GREEN SLIDES:

  • group of 6 participants asked to view 36 slides thta varied in shades and intensity of blue.
  • had to identify if the slide was blue or green.
  • each group = 4 participants and 2 confederates (minority).
  • consistent experimental condition - confederates said blue slides were green.
  • inconsistent condition - confederates called the slides green on 2/3 of trials and 1/3 called them blue.
  • control condition - 6 participants and no confederates, ppts called slides blue throughout.
• MOSCOVICI'S FINDINGS:

  • consistent condition - influenced by minority on 8.4% of trials, 32% were influenced on atleast one trial.
  • inconsistent condition - participants were influenced by minority on 1.25% of the trials.
  • control condition - got the colour wrong 0.25% of trials.
• STRENGTH - SCIENTIFIC:

  • controlled lab experiment.
  • quantitative and objective data.
  • scientific as it identified cause and effect.
  • creates internal validity.
• STRENGTH - SUPPORTS CONSISTENCY:

  • displays that minority's must be consistent in order to have influence.
• LIMITATION - UNGENERALISABLE:

  • all of the participants were women, cannot be generalise to all of he population.
  • has been suggested that men conform differently.
• LIMITATION - LOW PERCENTAGES AND EXAGGERATION
• there are 3 main processes in minority influence:

  1. consistency.
  2. flexible.
  3. commitment.
• CONSISTENCY:

  • consistency from a minority increases the amount of interest from others.
  • 2 kinds: synchronic and diachronic.
  • synchronic consistency is consistency of the ideas among the members of the minority.
  • diaschronic consistency is consistency over time.
• COMMITMENT

  • some engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their point.
  • invovinf risk to demonstrate their commitment.
  • the augmentation principle - makes the majority pay more attention.
• FLEXIBILITY:

  • nemeth - agrues being extremely consistent and repeating the same arguments over again can be seen as rigid and inflexible - does not influence the majority.
  • the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter-arguments.
  • key = strike balance between consistency and flexibility.
• LIMITATION - ARTIFICAL TASK

  • lacks external validity.
  • Moscovici.
  • research is far removed from how minorities attempt to change behaviour.
  • tells us little about how minorities operate in real life.
• STRENGTH - RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR INTERNALISATION.

  • Moscovici variation - ppts wrote answers down rather than speaking aloud.
  • private agreement with the minority position was greater.
  • appears the majority were convinced by the minority but were reluctant to admit it publically.
  • might be due to the fear iof being associated with the minority or being viewed as a radical.
• STRENGTH - RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR CONSISTENCY:

  • moscovici.
  • showed consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on the majority then wehn the minoiryt was inconsistent in what they were saying - synchronic consistency.