Minority Influence

• Consistency


  When people are first exposed to a minority position, they may assume the minority is wrong. It is most effective if the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over time and between all the individuals that form that minority
• Commitment


  Minority influence is more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position, cause or activity e.g. by making personal sacrifices (augmentation principle) or by engaging in extreme activities that are at some risk to the minority
• Flexibility


  It is effective as it shows the majority that by being flexible, they are willing to listen and adapt their point of view. This ability to compromise makes the majority more sympathetic to their cause.
• RESEARCH SUPPORT -

  Research to support the effectiveness of a minority comes from Moscovici et al (1969). Moscovici et al found in a laboratory experiment with female participants, that when there were two confederates being consistent when estimating the colour of slides, the real participants agreed with the minority on 8.42% of the trials (i.e.

  they said the slides were green), whereas when the four confederates were inconsistent, only 1.25% of the participant’s answers were green.
• Validity

  A limitation of the research support for minority influence is that it has been criticised for lacking external validity. Both Moscovici and Nemeth’s research lack ecological validity as the research took place in a lab, therefore we need to be careful when we generalise these findings to real life minority influence.