Minority Influence (Booklet 10)

Define minority influence

A form of social influence where one person or a small group of people (the minority) influences the behaviour and beliefs of the majority

Why does minority influence lead to internalisation?

• Minority influence involves persuading others to adopt the minority’s beliefs, attitudes or behaviours

• Therefore leads to internalisation, in which we agree publicly and privately with the minority view

Outline the procedure of Moscovici’s blue-green slide study. What were the three conditions?

Procedure

• 172 participants were tested to ensure they were not colour blind

• In groups of 6 (4 participants and 2 confederates), participants were asked to state the colour of 36 slides

• All of the slides were different shades of blue

Three conditions

• Condition A: The confederates were consistent and called the slides green on all trials

• Condition B: The confederates were inconsistent and called the slides green 24 times and blue 12 times

• Control group: no confederates present and participants in a group of 6 stated the colour of the slides

Outline the findings of Moscovici’s blue-green slide study. What conclusions can be drawn from this study?

• Consistent group (condition A): participants answered “green” in 8.42% of the trials and 32% of participants in the group answered “green” on at least one slide

• Inconsistent group (condition B): participants answered “green” in 1.25% of the trials

• Control group (no confederates): Only 0.25% of the participants reported any green slides

Conclusions: Minorities can still influence majorities. Minority influence is strongest when the minority is consistent in their views. When a minority is inconsistent in their views, they are less influential.

What are the three important factors for effective minority influence?

• Consistency

• Commitment

• Flexibility

How is consistency important for minority influence? What are the two types of consistency?

Importance:

• Making sure you get your message clear

• Do not deviate from the message you give

Types

• Synchronic consistency: the whole group is consistent with each other

• Diachronic consistency: you stay consistent over time

What is the augmentation principle? Which process is that demonstrating of minority influence?

• The augmentation principle is when you show dedication to your opinion or cause through some form of personal sacrifice

• Shows the process of commitment

Why do the minority also need to be flexible?

• Listen to other people’s opinions/counter-arguments

• Not rigid in your reasoning (have willingness to compromise)

• Makes minority group seem more reasonable and cooperative

How might minority influence have limited real-life application? Why is this a problem for minority influence as an explanation?

• Research studies with a clear distinction between majority and minority don’t reflect real life

• In real life majorities normally have much more power and control

• In real life minorities are very committed to their causes because they face hostile opposition

• Therefore research may lack utility

Why might it be difficult to measure the effect of the minority? Why is this a problem?

• People may be reluctant to admit their ‘conversion’ to the minority ideas.

• This is supported by Moscovici who found more participants agreed with the minority when writing their answer down.

• This is a limitation as it makes it difficult to test minority influence to validate it.

Research into minority influence uses artificial tasks. Why is this a limitation?

• Artificial tasks (such as Moscovici’s blue-green slide study) lack mundane realism

• Real life situations are more complicated.

• This is a limitation as there is limited real-world application.

What research support is there for the idea that minority viewpoints are more likely to be internalised? How is this a strength of the explanation?

• Martin et al (2003)

• Gave participants a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measure their support (e.g: jaffa cakes are cakes)

• One group of participants heard a minority group endorsing the same view

• Another group of participants heard a majority group endorsing the initial viewpoint

• Participants were then exposed to a conflicting view and their support was measured again

• People were less willing to change their opinions to the new conflicting view if they had listened to a minority group than if the had listened to a majority group

• Is a strength as suggests minority message had been more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect (viewpoint more internalised)

What research support is there for the idea that minority viewpoints are more likely to be influential when they are consistent? How is this a strength of the explanation?

• Wood et al. (1994)

• Did a meta-analysis of over 100 studies of minority influence

• Found consistent minorities were significantly more influential than inconsistent minorities

• Suggests consistency as a key part of the impact of minority influence is valid