Minority Influence + Role of Social Influence Processes in Social Change

What 3 behaviours allow a minority to influence a majority

What are they

Consistency

Repetition of the same message, same reasons

Commitment

Showing belief in cause through own behaviours

Could be committing alot time, money or other sacrifices

Flexibility

Being open to adapt their message and accept valid arguments

Research evidence for consistency

What happened

What happened in an alternate condition

What was concluded

Moscovici et al (1969)

Asked participants in groups of 6 to judge whether slides on a screen were green or blue

2 confederates answered green every time no matter the colour.

Found that 1/3 of participants wrongly agreed with the confederates at least once.

In another condition confederates were inconsistent with their answers

Agreement decreased to 1.25%

Shows that a consistent minority is more effective than an inconsistent one

Criticism of research into Consistency

- Tasks in Moscovici research were very artificial

- Participants were not involved in a real situation

- The colour of a slide has a Lack of jeopardy

- consequences of minority influence in real life are much more important

- Decreases ecological validity + cannot be sure consistency is effective in minority influence in real life

What are the two types of consistency

Synchronic Consistency - Everyone saying the same thing

Diachronic Consistency - Saying the same thing for a long period of time

What is important in showing Commitment

Using the Augmentation principle

Minority engaging activities with risk, showing greater commitment

What is the Minority becoming the Majority called

The Snowball effect

How can Minority Influence lead to social change

In relation to Obedience and Conformity

Conformity

People start to listen adopt views of the minority

Snowball effect occurs and minority becomes the majority through Conformity

Obedience

People in power listen to minority group and create laws and rules to help minority achieve their cause

People now change their behaviour through obedience

Real world example of social change from minority influence

6 steps

African American Civil Rights movement

1. Drawing attention

- The civil right marches drew attention providing social proof of the problem

2. Consistency

- Marched over several years presenting the same non aggressive message

3. Deeper processing of the issue

- Marches caused people to think deeply about the unjustness of the segregation

4. Augmnentation principle

- People risked their life eg "Freedom riders" boarding buses to challenge racial segregation of transport

5. Snowball effect

- Activists like MLK gained attention of the US attention

- More and more people backed the minority

6. Social cryptomnesia

- Some people have no memory of the events that led to change

Social Cryptomnesia

Having memory of change but not remembering how it happened