Minority Influence

• minority influence = when a small group of people or even an individual changes the attitudes, behaviours and belief of the majority
• Minority influence is the opposite of conformity
• The three factors which enhance the effectiveness of a minority:

  1. Consistency
  2. Commitment
  3. Flexability
• Consistency:

  Minority influence is most effective if the minority keeps the same beliefs both over time and between all the individuals that form the minority
• Staying firm in beliefs creates a consistent message
• Two types of consistency:

  • synchronic consistency
  • diachronic consistency
• Synchronic consistency - the minority presents a united front and share the same view
• Diachronic consistency - The minority have been arguing their view for a long time
• Consistency creates admiration for not veering from what they believe in
• Commitment - Minority influence is more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position.

  E.G. Emily Davison was a suffragette who threw herself in front of a horse
• Commitment is often demonstrated via direct or indirect action
• Get admiration from strong commitment despite being openly mocked
• Flexability - relentless consistency could be counter -productive if it is seen by the majority as unreasonable. Therefore it is more effective if the minority show flexablity
• The process of change - 3 factors that make people think about the minorities cause. Overtime the increasing numbers who change from the majority to the minority are 'converted'

  -----> this process is called the 'snowball effect'
• Minority influence - PEEL paragraph 1:

  Strength - real life application can inform minority groups about the best way to behave in order to exert a maximum amount of influence
• Minority influence - PEEL paragraph 2:

  Strength - Supporting research Moscovici supports the idea of consistency in a minority opinion
• Minority influence - PEEL paragraph 3:

  Weakness - Low power of minority - even when the confederates (minority) got agreement, it was only a small amount (8%) - therefore consistency of the minority only has a small influence
• Minority influence - PEEL paragraph 4:

  Weakness - Artificial tasks - In real life cases ( jury decision - making and political campaigning) the outcomes are more important.

  
  

  -----> lacks external validity
• Minority influence - PEELs:

  1. Strength - Real life application
  2. Strength - Supporting study
  3. Weakness - Low power of minority influence
  4. Weakness - Artificial tasks
• Social change = when whole societies rather than just individuals adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things
• Social change is not sudden and takes place slowly

  • E.G. Movement towards recycling at home or not smoking in public places
• Often minority influence is the driving force behind social change for example;

  • a few years ago, gay rights would not have been considered possible in society
• Social Change:

  1. Drawing attention
  2. Consistency and commitment
  3. Flexibility - Deeper processing
  4. The Augmentation principle
  5. The snowball effect
  6. Social cryptonesia
• Examples of Social change:

  • attitudes towards working from home post-pandemic
  • cruelty-free beauty products and cosmetics
  • rising use of social media
• Social change:

  Drawing attention to the inequalities of the minority experience
• The augmentation principle - Individuals risking their lives to support their cause which reinforces (augments) their stance
• Taking a flexible approach (humour) to help reach a wider audience and trigger deeper processing of the image
• The snowball effect can be seen in year-on-year traction and more people converting to the minority view
• Social Cryptonesia:

  The change becomes apart of the fabric of society to the extent that its hard to remember any different
• Environmentalists exploit conformity by appealing to normative social influence

  • they do this by providing information about what others are doing - e.g. ‘bin it, others do’
• NSI - minority:

  Change is encouraged by drawing attention to what the majority is doing
• Social Change - PEEL Paragraph 1:

  Strength - research support for normative influences - Nolan et al (2008) - changed energy use habits through messages saying ‘most residents were trying to improve’ whereas the control group just had ‘save energy’

  • there were significant decreases in energy in the first group
  • Therefore conformity can lead to social change through the operation of NSI
• Social Change - PEEL Paragraph 2:

  Strength - psychologists can support minority influence brings change due to the type of thinking minorities inspire - divergent thinking stimulates new ideas and open minds
• Social Change - PEEL Paragraph 3:

  Weakness - Counters deeper processing - majority actually triggers deeper thinking as we have to think about their arguments and reasoning
• Social Change - PEEL Paragraph 4:

  Weakness - Barriers to social change - some people actually avoid social change as they already have negative opinions on the cause