Minority influence

what is minority influence?

when a minority persuades others to accept their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours - internalisation

what are the three factors that make a minority influential?

consistency, commitment and flexibility

two types of consistency

synchronic - when they all say the same thing

diachronic - they all say the same thing for a long time

Moscovici’s study 1969

female ppts, shown blue slides asked if they were green or blue

consistent group - 2 confeds always said green

inconsistent group - 2/3 of the time said green

control - no confeds

findings of Moscovici

consistent minority - 8.42% said green

inconsistent - 1.25%

Evaluation of minority influence

real life situations are more complicated than the number of people in each group - e.g. status - research lacks external validity

Moscovici - beta bias, lacks temporal and ecological validity, lacks mundane realism

BUT

real life examples of minority influence e.g. suffragettes