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Minority influence refers to situations where a small group or even a single individual influences the beliefs or behaviours of the majority.
This form of influence is often slower but leads to deeper, long-lasting changes in attitudes known as internalisation.
Psychologists have identified three key processes that make minority influence effective: consistency, commitment, and flexibility.
Consistency means that the minority must keep the same message over time and between members, which draws attention and makes people start to rethink their own views.
Commitment involves the minority showing dedication, often by making sacrifices, which shows they’re not acting out of self-interest.
This increases their credibility through the augmentation principle.
Flexibility is also important — minorities that are too rigid are seen as unreasonable, so being open to compromise can be more persuasive.
One key study into minority influence included a group of six people were shown 36 blue slides.
The confederates consistently said the slides were green.
When the minority was consistent, 32% of participants gave the same wrong answer at least once.
This shows that a consistent minority can influence the majority, even when they are clearly in the minority.
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One strength of the minority influence explanation is that it’s supported by controlled research.
Research showed that a consistent minority could influence the majority to give incorrect answers about the colour of slides. When the confederates were consistent, 32% of participants conformed at least once.
This shows that consistency is a key factor in minority influence, and that minorities can have a real impact, even in lab settings where the majority clearly holds more power.
Therefore, the study supports the theory and provides empirical evidence that minority influence can work under the right conditions.
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Another strength is that minority influence has been shown to lead to stronger, longer-lasting attitude change.
Research found that participants were more likely to resist opposing views if they had initially been exposed to a minority opinion, rather than a majority one.
This suggests that minority messages are processed more deeply.
Deeper processing means people internalise the minority view — it’s not just shallow compliance like in majority influence.
This adds weight to the idea that minority influence can create permanent social change, especially when it encourages people to think critically.
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However, a weakness is that much of the research uses artificial tasks that don’t reflect real life.
For example, in a study participants were asked to judge the colour of slides which is very trivial and doesn’t involve personal values or real-world consequences.
In real social movements, such as civil rights or climate activism, the stakes are much higher, and influence depends on emotions, context, and politics, not just perception.
This means the findings might lack external validity and can’t be generalised well to how minority influence works in everyday or historical contexts.