minority influence

• what is minority influence

  -where one person or small group of ppl influences beliefs and behaviours of other ppl

  -leads to internalisation: both public behaviour and private beliefs are changed
• what are the 3 processes in minority influence that research has shown explain consistency

  -consistency, commitment, flexibility

  -consistency: minority must be consistent in their views, over time this increases interest from other ppl or there should be agreement between ppl in minority which makes ppl rethink own views
• explain commitment 


  -minority must demonstrate commitment to their view

  -sometimes they engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views

  -its important that these activities present some risk to minority bc it shows greater commitment
• explain flexibility


  -nemeth argued that consistency can be off-putting

  -someone who is extremely consistent and repeats same old arguements and behaviours again and again is seen as rigid and dogmatic

  -instead members of minority needs to be prepared to adapt their pov and accept reasonable and valid counter arguements.
• explain process of change using the 3 factors

  -the 3 factors make ppl think abt the minoritys view

  -hearing smth new makes u think more deeply abt it especially if it involves consistency, commitment and flexibility

  -this deeper processing is important in process of conversion to a diff, minority viewpoint

  -over time increasing numbers of ppl switch from majority to minority position.

  -the more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion this is called snowball effect