minority influence

• what is minority influence

  is where a minority influences a majority causing them to change their attitudes and beliefs.
• why can't a minority influence a majority via high social pressure

  high social pressure causes individuals to conform to fit in, however a minority does not fit in, they aren't like the majority they stand out. therefore they cannot influence the majority via high social pressure
• how can a minority influence a majority to change their behaviours and beliefs

  by a process called conversion
• 3 steps in conversion

  1. create conflict- to draw attention: this is where you do something abnormal which causes everyone to notice you. 2. Understand- the majority try to understand you and see where you are coming from 3. Valid- if the majority seem persuaded and sees you as legitimate they will internalise what you said and will believe that you are correct, so they will be converted and will adopt you behaviours and beliefs
• 3 ways to strengthen minority influence

  consistency commitment flexibility
• consistency 


  this is where everyone in the minority repeatedly speaks about the same message again and again, this will draw attention to the minority
• commitment. 


  this is where the minority will make a personal sacrifice to show the majority how much the cause means to them , this will draw attention
• flexibility 


  where the minority compromises and agrees with the majority, it will make them look more reasonable so more people will try to understand them.
• what is social change 


  where a minority influences a majority causing their attitudes and behaviours to change, leading to the development of new social norms.
• how do minorities bring about social change

  initially, only a small amount of people are converted, the people around see that these people have converted so they start to understand the minority and they also become converted, this continues on happening till the minority becomes the majority, this is known as the snowball effect. Those that do not agree will conform via compliance due to high social pressure and because they don't want to face social rejection
• social cryptomnesia 


  the new social norms that have been developed due to social change have now been around for quite some time, people know that these norms are present but don't know how they formed or who formed them, they don't know when the change happened