Minority influence (AO1)

• Minority Influence

  • Individuals who have rejected majority behaviour/beliefs & converted to minority views
  • Minority attempts to change views through Informational Social influence (ISI)- results in internalisation
• Snowball effect

  • Minorities changing majority's opinion is a slow process
  • But the more the majority convert to new view- process speeds up (snowball effect)
  • Minority improves acceptability
• 3 Main processes in minority influence?

  1. Consistency
  2. Commitment
  3. Flexibility
• Consistency

  • keeping same belief through time & across people
  • Consistency increases the amount of interest from other people
• The 2 types of consistency

  1. Synchronic consistency- all saying the same thing
  2. Diachronic consistency- saying the same thing for some time
• What does a consistency minority do ?

  Make other people start to rethink their own views
• Commitment

  • dedication to the cause
  • Minorities sometimes engage in extreme activities to draw attention & show commitment- augmentation principle
• Flexibility

  • If rigid & inflexible- minority lose ability to be persuasive
  • Flexibility means to be prepared to adapt to their point of view & compromise
• What is key to minority influence?

  Strike balance between consistency & flexibility
• When was Moscovici research conducted?

  1969
• Aim


  To investigate effects of consistent minority in a majority
• Procedure

  • 172 ppts- tested to ensure they weren't colour blind
  • Groups of 6 (2 confederates)
  • Asked to state the colour of 36 slides (blue or green)
  • All slides were shades of blue
• 3 types of conditions in research

  1. Consistent condition (A)- confederates called all slides 'green' in all trial
  2. Inconsistent condition (B)- confederates called 'green' 24 times & blue '12' times
  3. Control group- 6 naive ppts & no confederates
• Findings of consistent group

  • ppts said 'green' in 8.42% of trials
  • 32% ppts in the group answered 'green' at least once
• Findings of inconsistent group

  • ppts answered 'green' in 1.25% of trials
• Findings of control group

  • 0.25% ppts reported green slides
• Conclusion

  • Minorities can influence a majority, but not always & only when they behave in certain ways
  • e.g. consistent behaviour style