4 minority influence including reference to consistency, commitment and flexibility AO1 AND 3

What is minority influence?

• Minority influence is when a small group or individual changes the beliefs or behaviour of the majority.

• Leads to internalisation, meaning the change is deep and long-lasting.

  📘 Example: The suffragette movement or environmental activists like Greta Thunberg.

What is the role of consistency in minority influence?

• Consistency means the minority keeps the same message over time and between members.

• It shows confidence, commitment, and certainty in their viewpoint.

• Makes the majority rethink their views and consider the minority as possibly correct.

  📘 Moscovici et al (1969) — consistent minority (green slides) influenced majority more than inconsistent one.

What is the role of commitment in minority influence?

• Minorities show commitment by making sacrifices or taking risks for their cause.

• Demonstrates confidence and serious dedication, drawing attention to their position.

• Known as the augmentation principle — if someone risks something for a belief, others assume they must really believe it.

What is the role of flexibility in minority influence?

• Minorities must not appear rigid or dogmatic.

• Being willing to compromise or consider other views makes the minority seem reasonable.

• Nemeth (1986) found that flexibility increased influence — if too rigid, majority resists; if too flexible, seen as inconsistent.

Outline Moscovici et al.’s (1969) research into minority influence.

• Aim: To see if a consistent minority could influence a majority’s perception.

• Method: 6 participants viewed 36 blue slides; 2 confederates (minority) said slides were green.

• Conditions: Consistent (always said green) vs inconsistent (said green 24 times).

• Results: Consistent minority influenced 8.4% of trials; inconsistent only 1.3%.

  ✅ Shows consistency increases minority influence.

What are strengths of research into minority influence?

✅ Supporting research — Moscovici shows consistent minorities are more influential.

✅ Real-life applications — explains how social change happens (e.g. civil rights, women’s rights).

✅ Theoretical support — draws attention to conversion theory (majority rethink their views).

hat are weaknesses of research into minority influence?

❌ Artificial tasks — identifying slide colours doesn’t reflect real-life minority influence (low ecological validity).

❌ Limited external validity — lab setting → lacks realism, can’t explain complex real-world movements.

❌ Minority impact is slow and indirect — takes time and often small changes at first (Nemeth).

Summarise the process of minority influence.

• A consistent, committed, yet flexible minority creates cognitive conflict in the majority.

• This leads to internalisation and eventually social change.

• Supported by Moscovici (consistency) and Nemeth (flexibility).

• Evaluated as scientifically useful but lacking ecological validity.

snowball effect

the snowball effect describes how minority influence leads to social change — when a few members of the majority start to adopt the minority’s beliefs, their influence grows gradually, like a snowball rolling downhill and getting bigger.

1. a minority presents their view (must be consistent, committed, and flexible).

2. a few people in the majority start agreeing.

3. as more people convert, the rate of conversion increases.

4. eventually, the minority view becomes the majority view — social change occurs.