Minority influence

• What is minority influence?

  A minority group influencing the majority into sharing their beliefs + values

  • Leads to internalisation
  • Opposite of conformity (majority influence)
• What 3 things do the minority need to be successful?

  • Flexibility
  • Minority being open to adapting to criticism/others' ideas to show possibility of compromise
  • Commitment
  • Minority experiences some level of personal risk = interest in cause = Augmentation principle = cognitive dissonance
  • Consistency
  • Diachronic consistency: not changing message over time
  • Synchronic consistency: not changing key message between members of minority
• What was the aim of Moscovici et al.'s 1969 study into minority influence?


  To investigate the effects of a consistent minority upon a majority
• What was the sample of Moscovici et al.'s 1969 study into minority influence?


  172 female participants
• What was the method of Moscovici et al.'s 1969 study into minority influence?


  Lab experiment, independent measures design
• What was the procedure of Moscovici et al.'s 1969 study into minority influence?


  • Ppts given eye tests to ensure no colour blindness + told they were taking part in colour perception test
  • IV = minority group's consistency/inconsistency
  • DV = no. of times naïve ppts answered 'green' to blue slide
  • Ppts placed in groups of 4 naïve ppts + 2 confederates
  • Each group shown 36 slides of diff. shades of blue + asked to state colour of slide on display
• What were the conditions in the procedure of Moscovici et al.'s 1969 study into minority influence?


  • Consistent condition (1): confederates said that all 36 slides = green
  • Inconsistent condition (2): confederates said that 24 slides = green
  • Control condition = confederates said 0 slides = green
• What were the findings of Moscovici et al.'s 1969 study into minority influence?


  • Condition 1 (consistent): 8.2% of judgements made = ppts wrongly identifying blue slide as green
  • Condition 2 (inconsistent): 1.25% of judgements made = ppts wrongly identifying blue slide as green
  • Control condition: >1% of judgements made = ppts wrongly identifying blue slide as green
  • Overall: 1/3 (32%) of all ppts judged a slide to be green at least once
• What were the conclusions of Moscovici et al's 1969 study into minority influence?


  • Minorities can have influence on beliefs + behaviour of majority
  • Not all members of majority affected equally
  • Consistency = key factor in how much influence minority is likely to have
  • Greater consistency = greater influence
• What were the strengths of Moscovici et al's 1969 study into minority influence?


  • Tightly controlled lab experiment = high internal validity
  • Same no. of confederates per group = no. of minority not influencing impact on DV
  • Same shades of blue for each condition = consistency
  • Potentially confounding variables prevented
  • Well-operationalised IV
  • Causal relationship established easily
• What were the weaknesses of Moscovici et al's 1969 study into minority influence?

  • Lack of mundane realism = not ecologically valid = can't generalise results beyond lab
  • Sampson (1991): minority influence in lab experiments = artificial!
  • IRL -> minority influence more likely to occur in groups of friends/acquaintances
  • Past minority influence = civil rights, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities -> more serious subject matters than Moscovici et al.
  • More significant issue = higher or lower minority influence?
  • Beta gender bias + other research = women more susceptible to minority influence than men
• Minority influence A&E point 1: research evidence to support consistency/commitment/flexibility = impactful on larger group

  • Moscovici et al. (1969) = consistent condition -> 8.2% influence, inconsistent condition -> 1.25% influence
  • Consistency = important
  • Nemeth et al. (1986) = confederate arguing with naïve ppts in mock-jury -> eventually convinced naïve ppts to agree with him because he was flexible = willingness to compromise
  • Dogmatic + refusal to compromise = ppts showed no movement towards his stance
  • Overall: minority influence possible depending on how minority presents itself
• Minority influence A&E point 2: most experiments = lab experiments = clear conclusions

  • Moscovici et al. kept confederates the same across conditions = no. of confederates had no impact on DV
  • Potentially confounding variables prevented + well-operationalised IV (consistency level) = impact on DV -> consistency influences minority's impact
  • Nemeth et al.'s changing level of flexibility (IV) = more minority influence
  • High internal validity of studies = minority influence does occur + that we can explain it
• Minority influence A&E point 3: studies using lab experiments lack ecological validity = minority influence may not work the same way outside the lab

  • Sampson (1991) = lab experiments in minority influence = 'artificial'
  • IRL -> more likely to occur among friends/acquaintances
  • Also more likely to be operating in issues that are more important/relevant to society (e.g. women's rights, civil rights, LGBTQIA+ rights) -> more serious subject matter than Moscovici et al.'s/Nemeth et al.'s studies
  • Factors that seem to affect minority influence may not be as important/more important