Minority influence

Moscovici et al AO1

• A group of 6 people were asked to view 36 blue-coloured slides that varied in intensity & state whether the slides were blue or green

• In each group were 2 confederates who consistently said slides were green 2/3 of the time

• 32% gave same answer as minority on at least one trial

• A 2nd group of participants was exposed to inconsistent minority & agreement fell to 1.25%

• Study found that people can be influenced by a minority but they have to be CONSISTENT

Consistency AO1

• If people are consistent in their views it increase interest from other people & can cause them to rethink their views (eg maybe they’ve got a point)

• Diachronic consistency - consistency over time

• Synchronic consistency - consistency between members, all are in agreement

Commitment AO1

• When a minority shows dedication to their cause eg engaging in extreme activities, risk-taking & making sacrifices

• Draws peoples attentions & makes them take their arguments more seriously (eg they must really believe in it if they’re willing to suffer for it) - augmentation principle

Flexibility AO1

• When the minority is willing to adapt their POV, compromise & accept valid counter-arguments

• Key to strike a balance between consistency & flexibility as rigid consistency can be seen negatively

Snow ball effect AO1

• When over time, increasing numbers of people switch from majority to minority view - the rate of conversions increases as more people convert

• Eventually the minority view becomes the majority view

Social cryptomnesia

• When a minority view becomes the majority view without a conscious understanding of where it came from or how it was brought about

• Eg suffragette movement - women can now vote but most people aren’t aware or remember how this came about

Explains of minority influence strengths AO3

• P - research to support

• E - Moscovici et al’s blue-green slide study found that a consistent minority had a greater effect on people’s views than an inconsistent minority. Wood et al also carried out a meta analysis of 100 similar studies & found that consistent minorities were most influential

• T - supports the view that consistency is a major factory in minority influence

Explanations of minority influence limitations AO3

• P - methodological issues with minority influence research

• E - many tasks are artificial (eg identifying colour of a slide). Tasks don’t represent the complexity & importance of minority influence as some outcomes are of life/death like in jury decision making & political campaigning

• T - research lacks ecological validity & is limited in its applications to everyday life

• P - Moscovici also used a biased, limited sample

• E - he used 172 female american participants. Unable to generalise results to males & beta bias as he assumes that males would react in the same way (although research shows that females are more likely to conform). Also may not be generalisable to other cultures & could be ethnocentric

• T - sample is unrepresentative of whole pop so findings are limited & ungeneralisable