minority influence

What is minority influence?

It is a form of social influence where a persuasive small group changes the attitudes and behaviours of the majority

Reflect the established norm of the majority and move to the position of the minority

Leads to internalisation

How does minority influence occur?

1. Consistency

Minorities must advocate their position constantly overtime (diachronic) and amongst themselves (synchronic consistency) increases interest and makes us rethink our own views

2. Commitment

Extreme activities draw attention to that cause - personal sacrifice makes the majority pay more attention the greater personal sacrifice a minority figure is willing to make, the more convincing they are as it demonstrates commitment (augmentation principle )

3. Flexibility

Minorities must not come across as arrogant rigid and inflexible as this is off putting

Minorities need to show they can adapt and are willing to compromise and can be reasonable

The process of change

Gradually overtime people become ‘converted ‘ and switch from the minority to the majority ( the snowball effect )

Social crypto amnesia - is where people forget the origins of change and the event that led to that change

Moscovicis blue/ green slide study - procedure

Procedure

• Pps were first given eye tests to ensure they weren’t colour blind

• Female pps

• In groups of 6 (2 in each group were confederates-minority )

• Shown 36 blue coloured slides, different shades

• Asked to report colour out loud

• In conditions one confederates consistently said the colour was green

• In condition two confederates answered green 24 times and blue 12 times ( inconsistent)

Moscovicis blue/green slide results

• Pps agreed with the minority overall on 8.42% of consistent trials

• 32% gave some answer as minority at least once

• When inconsistent agreement was reduced to 1.25%

• Ina variation where they wrote answers down there was more conformity suggesting they had internalised the minorities view but some were reluctant to state agreement publicly

Conclusions of Moscovicis study

• Moscovicis experiment suggests that minorities can influence majorities

• However it indicates that this influence is much more effective when the minority are consistent in their responses

• When the minority gave inconsistent answers they are largely ignored by the majority

• Later research has largely confirmed these findings

• This study has drawn attention to three processes involved in minority influence

Research support for consistency

P. A strength is there is research support for consistency

E. Research has largely confirmed Moscovicis findings that consistency in key to a minority influence in a majority

E. Wood et al did a meta analysis of 100 similar studies and found minorities seen as consistent were the most influential

L. This suggests consistency is a major factor in minority influence

H. Meta analysis combine numerous studies therefore the conclusions may ignore important different between the studies reducing the credibility of the consistency argument

External validity of research into minority influence is questionable

P. A limitation is external validity of research into minority influence is questionable

E. The taks involved (eg; judging colours of slides) are artificial

E. For example pps in Moscovicis study may not have been concerned about giving the ‘right’ answer

L. This suggests Moscovicis findings may not explain minority influence in real life where the consequences of our actions/ decions are more significant

H. The benefit of using lab studies environment was that he could control extraneous variables such as eyesight, therefore this was the only method Moscovicis could confidently conclude consistency caused the minority influence

Limited real world appplication

P. A limitation of minority influence is limited real world application

E. In real life minority influence is much more complicated than Moscovicis presumes

E. Research does not capture the commitment that minorities show towards their causes including the social support that members I’ve eachother when they face hostile opposition (eg; friends of the earth). They can be tight - knit groups whose members know each to her well and turn to each other for support