Social Influence
The way in which people change their behaviour/ideas to meet the demands of a social group.
Social Control
The regulation of individual or group behaviour as a method of enforcing conformity and compliance to established norms.
Social Change
When whole societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs, and ways of doing things.
Where has social change occured in the last 100 years?
The American Civil Rights Movement, the Suffragetes, attitudes towards mental health, changes in fashion, Black Lives Matter Movement.
Minority Influence
A form of social influence where a minority rejects the established norm of the majority of group members and persuades the majority to move to the position of the minority.
What is effective about minority influence?
It is most likely to lead internalisation, as people aren’t influenced by the minority to fit in, they are influenced as they believe them.
Moscovici (1969) - Aim
To investigate the effects of a consistent minority on a majority.
Moscovici (1969) - Procedure
172 female participants were given eye tests to ensure they weren’t colour blind. They were then placed in groups of four participants and two confederates. They were shown 36 slides that were different shades of blue, and asked to state the colour out loud. In Condition 1, the confederates answered ‘green’ to every slide. In Condition 2, confederates answered ‘green’ to 24 slides, and ‘blue’ to the other 12.
Moscovici (1969) - Findings
In Condition 1, 32% of participants answered ‘green’ at least once, agreeing on 8.42% of trials. In Condition 2, participants answered ‘green’ on only 1.25% of trials. In a control group with no confederates, participants only answered incorrectly on 0.25% of trials.
Moscovici (1969) - Conclusion
The study suggested that minorities can change the opinion of the majority, particularly if they are consistent.
Moscovici (1969) - Strengths
- Controlled lab experiment, increasing the study’s validity.
- Good standardisation.
Moscovici (1969) - Limitations
- Artificial task used, doesn’t reflect minority influence in the real world.
- Lacks mundane realism.
- Sample only consisted of females, lacks population validity.
Clark (1994) - Summary
270 students were asked to play the part of jurors in the court case presented in ‘Twelve Angry Men’. They were given a summary of the murder case, and the jury’s decision, which had been manipulated. Participants were asked on their thoughts at various stages. It was found that they were most persuaded by the jury when their arguments were consistent.
What three traits can make minority influence more effective?
Consistency, commitment, and flexibility.
Synchronic Consistency
When there is consistency in opinion across the minority group.
Diachronic Consistency
When the minority group is consistent in their opinion over time.
Commitment
Some minorities engage in extreme activities to draw the majority group’s attention to their views.
Flexibility
Minority groups should be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept counter-arguments.
Who argued the importance of flexibility?
Nemeth (1986) said that consistency could be negative, and seen as rigid and inflexible. He argued flexibility is important, and there should be a balance.
Nemeth (1986) - Summary
Groups of four, with one confederate each, had to agree upon an amount of compensation to give to someone in a ski-lift accident. In one condition, the minority argued for a low rate and refused to change their position. In the other, the confederate argued for a low rate, but compromised by offering a slighly higher rate. When the minority was flexible, the participants were more likely to compromise with them, changing their views.
Minority Influence - Strengths
- Supporting evidence from Moscovici (1969) - demonstrated the importance of consistency in minority influence.
- Supporting evidence from Wood et al. (1994) - carried out a meta-analysis of around 100 similar studies. Minorities who were consistent were most influential.
- Supporting evidence from Martin et al. (2003) - found that changing to a minority position involves a deeper processing of ideas. Individuals weren’t likely to change their opinions for a conflicting view if they had listened to a minority view. The minority view has been more deeply processed and is longer-lasting.
- In a variation of Moscovici where participants wrote their answers privately, influence from the minority was stronger. More members of majority were influenced by minority but scared to admit it publically. This suggests a deeper processing with minority views.
Minority Influence - Limitations
- Limited testability - tasks involved in research were artificial. Findings will lack ecological validity, and may not explain how minority influence will work in real-life situations.
- There are other factors of whether we are influenced by a minority that are overlooked. For example, power, status, how extreme their opinion is etc. may be more important.
