minority influence

Moscovici 1969 procedure

172 female Ps in total.

in groups of 6, Ps had to state the colour of 36 slides out loud.

2 / 6 Ps were confederates and all slides were blue (brightness varying), confederates would say green.

Moscovici 1969 3 conditions?

• consistent condition - confederates call the blue slides green on every trial, always incorrectly.

• inconsistent condition - confederates called the slides green on 2/3 (24 slides) of the trials and blue on the rest, mostly incorrectly.

• control condition - 6 Ps and no confederates

Moscovici 1969 findings x3

control - Ps called every slide blue so correct answer was obvious

consistent - Ps called slides green in 8.42% of trials, 32% reported a green slide atleast once

inconsistent - very little influence, only 1.25% of answers green, no significant difference from control group

Moscovici 1969 why were all Ps female?

females are 16x less likely to be colourblind than males, eliminating this as an extraneous variable

what are the 4 behavioural styles for MSI to be successful?

consistency - more influential if consistent with beliefs

flexibility - more influential if not rigid as it may be offputting

commitment - if there are risks, those involved are taken more seriously

relevance - if the issues they address fit within social beliefs

what is consistency?

minorities are more influential if they are consistent and express arguments consistently. They are taken more seriously if they are seen to truly believe in the cause.

2 types of consistency?

synchronic - every person in the minority group is saying the same thing

dichronic - each person says the same thing over a long period of time

what is flexibility?

minorities need to not be rigidly reiterating the same argument in order for them to be influental because it may be offputting. Needs to be a balance between flexibility and consistency to be successful

what is commitment?

if there are risks/consequences involved those involved are taken more seriously as they are showing commitment to the cause and majority groups will then pay more attention

what is the augmentation principle?

when a minority group risks abuse, media attention, imprisonment and death for the cause

what is relevance?

if the issue they’re addressing fits in with relevant social beliefs it is more likely to sway the majority

how does MSI work?

when you hear something new you are likely to think deeply about it, which is important when someone leaves the majority to join the minority. As this view gains momentum, it is called a snowball effect (rate of conversion likely to speed up over time)

evaluation of MSI (🙂x5, 🙁x4)

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• supporting evidence for flexibility - Nemeth and Brilmeyer (1987)

• minorities can add value to teams - dissent opens the mind to consider more options

• supporting evidence for consistency - Moscovici et al (1969)

• supporting evidence of internalisation - Moscovici et al (1969)

• supporting evidence for deeper processing - Martin et al (2003)

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• criticisms with supporting evidence - tasks involved in Moscovici are artificial and not how they change majorities IRL

• minorities not always valued in reality - difficult to persuade people of the value of dissent

• supporting evidence subject to gender bias - Moscovici 1969 all female sample

• socially sensitive research - minorities challenge the status quo so research may lead to prejudice