AO3

• ·       Support for flexibility - Nemeth & Brilmayer (1987) found in a simulated jury trial confederates holding a minority view who compromised with the majority were mire influential.
• ·         Better quality decisions can be made by minorities – Nemeth (2010) argues dissent ‘opens’ the mind making us search for more information and consider more opinions. Research has found better decisions are made when a dissenting minority was present.
• ·         There is a tipping point in minority influence – this is where the number of people holding a minority position is sufficient to change a majority opinion. Xie et al (2011) found just 10% was necessary. 
• ·         Difficult to convenience people the value of dissent – Nemeth argues dissent can be seen as disrupting the harmony, so their view point is belittled and the group are marginalized. This means innovate thinking may be lost/unheard.