Psychology essay 4

Discuss research into minority influence

Research Support: Consistency (Moscovici et al, 1969)

What did they do? (Procedure)

• In groups of six, participants were asked to view a set of blue-coloured slides that varied in brightness, and then state whether the slides were blue or green

• Two of the six participants were confederates.

• Consistent condition: the two confederates consistently called the blue slides green on all trials.

• Inconsistent condition: the two confederates called the slides green 24 times and blue 12 times.

• A control group also judged the colour of the slides without any confederates present.

What did they find? (Findings)

The findings show:

• Consistent condition:

Participants called the slides green in 8.42% of the trials and 32% of these participants called a slide green at least once

• Inconsistent condition: Participants called the slides green on only 1.25% of the trials

This is a strength as consistency in the views and behaviour of the minority was the most important factor in determining the degree of minority influence upon social change.

Common error: Students providing unnecessary long descriptions on Moscovici’s study. E.g., ‘discuss the effects of consistency on minority influence’. Here Moscovici’s findings should be used to SUPPORT the importance of consistency.

Further Support for Consistency

The importance of consistency in minority influence is further supported Wood et al

(1994).

They carried out a meta-analysis of 97 studies of minority influence and found that consistent minorities were the most influential.

This VALIDATES the importance of consistency in influencing and converting the majority.

Minority influence is when a single person or a small group influences the beliefs and behaviours of other people. There are three main processes involves in minority influence: consistency, commitment and flexibility. Consistency involves repeating and keeping to the same message, and was investigated by Moscovici et al. Participants were asked to identify whether blue slides were blue or green, and confederates were either consistent or inconsistent in saying that they ere green. In the consistent condition, participants called the slides green in 8.42% of trials, and 32% called them green at least once, wheras in the inconsistent condition, participants called the slides green only 1.25%

Commitment is taking part in extreme activities that help to draw attention to their views and to show that they are dedicated to their views. Supporting evidence from Xie et al found that when participants communicated on a social network with people who were committed to an alternative view to their own, this has the most significant influence on them adopting this new point of view.

Flexibility is the ability to change and adapt to accommodate the majority who have a different viewpoint to them. Supporting evidence from Nemeth and Brilmayer found that in a mock jury situation discussing compensation for a ski lift accident, they found that when a confederate put forward an alternative point of view and refused to change their position, it had no influence on the group. In comparison, when they showed flexibility, they did have an influence on the group.

One weakness of consistency is that being overly consistent can backfire. If the minority consistently adheres to their message without any attempts to adapt, they could be viewed as inflexible and rigid. This in turn may cause the majority to ignore the minority. Therefore, this is a weakness as it could cause a lower level of minority influence.

One weakness of all methods of minority influence is that behavioural style may nit be the most important factor in minority influence, but that it may be the extent to which the minority identifies with the majority. Research for Maas et al showed that a straight minority were influenced more by a minority arguing for gay rights if the minority was straight rather than gay. This is because the straight majority identifies with the straight minority, wheras they tended to see the gay minority as different from themselves. Therefore this illustrates that despite the behavioural style used, change may not happen unless the majority can identify for the minority.