Minority Influence

• What was the aim of Moscoviscis study?

  to observe how minority can influence a majority
• How does flexibility influence a majority?

  Being too consistent in a point of view can make the minority seem uncompromising and irrational. 

  By being flexible they are less likely to be seen as 'attention seekers' and more reasonable and considerate.
• How does commitment influence the majority?

  when the minority have so much passion and confidence in their point of view, it suggests to the majority that their point must be somewhat valid, encourgaing them to explore why.
• Explain what is meant by the term 'diachronic consistency' and how this influences the majority. 

  When a group holds the same viewpoint on something over a period of time

  This forces the opposition to rethink their own views repeatively over time, causing doubt due to the conflicting views-more opp. to be influenced.
• Explain what is meant by the term 'synchronic consistency' and how this influences the majority,

  where everyone in the group has the same view, so they all support one another. 

  This can convince the majority that there is something worth agreeing with
• How does minority influence being consistent affect views?

  -Makes the opposition believe that their views regard attention, and are serious.
• What were Moscovicis findings

  when the confederates were consistent in their answers about 8% of participants said the slides were green. However, when the confederates answered inconsistently about 1% of participants said the slides were green. 

  This shows that consistency is crucial for a minority to exert maximum influence on a majority. 
• What was Moscovicis procedure?

  -lab experiment 

  -pps were in a group with 2 confederates and 4 pps

  -everyone shown 36 blue sldies, each a different shade

  -asked whether it was green or blue

  -confederates said green 2/3 of the trials

  -number of times that the real participants reported that the slide was green was observed. 

  -control group was also used consisting of participants only – no confederates. 
• What research support is there for consistency?(+)

  Moscovicicis showed that a consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on changing the views of other people than inconsistent opinion.Wendy Wood et al(1994) carried out a meta analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential.
• What is the research support for deeper processing?(+)

  From Martin et al(2003) presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured participants agreement.One group of participants then heard a minority group agree with the initial view while another heard majority group.Pps were less willing to change opinion with minority when exposed to conflicting view.
• Explain one limitation of minority influence research?

  Artificial tasks- studies such as Moscovici are far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life.Outcomes are vastly, inlcuding political campaigning and decision making.