minority influence

Question 1

minority influence

Answer 1

one person/small group persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours

Question 2

internalisation

Answer 2

result of minority influence where public and private attitudes are changed (sometimes called conversion)

Question 3

consistency

Answer 3

• minorities are most effective when they keep the same beliefs over time (diachronic) and between members (synchronic)
• draws attention to the minority view and makes the majority start to rethink their views

Question 4

commitment

Answer 4

• minorities are most effective when they show dedication to their position e.g. making personal sacrifices
• makes majority pay even more attention and shows minority is not acting out of self-interest

Question 5

flexibility

Answer 5

• being consistent makes minorities seem rigid and unbending which is off-putting for the majority
• minority needs to accept the possibility of compromise and accept reasonable and valid counterarguments

Question 6

process of minority influence

Answer 6

• consistency, commitment, flexibility
• deeper processing- these factors cause majority to think about the message carefully as it conflicts their own and they may then be persuaded
• internalisation (conversion)- majority therefore publicly and privately changed their attitudes and behaviours
• snowball effect- more and more people become persuaded until the majority’s viewpoint aligns with that of the minority

Question 7

aim of Moscovici et al’s study

Answer 7

to investigate the role of a consistent minority upon the opinions of a majority in an unambiguous situation

Question 8

procedure of Moscovici et al’s study

Answer 8

• Female participants were placed into 32 groups of six
• In each group, there were four real participants and two confederates
• Participants were told that it was an investigation into perception
• Each group was shown 36 blue slides, with filters varying the intensity of the colour and were asked to judge the colour of each slide
• In the consistent condition, the confederates answered wrongly that all of the slides were green
• In the inconsistent condition, the confederates said that 24 of the slides were green and 12 were blue
• In a control condition (6 naïve participants and no confederates), participants called all slides blue
• Answers were given verbally in the presence of the rest of the group

Question 9

findings of Moscovici et al’s study

Answer 9

• 8.42% agreement with the minority in the consistent condition
• 32% percent of participants agreed with the minority at least once
• The inconsistent minority exerted very little influence as there was only 1.25% agreement in the inconsistent condition
• results for this group did not differ significantly from the control group.

Question 10

what happened in follow up task of Moscovici’s study

Answer 10

• After the main experiment, participants individually sorted 16 coloured discs into blue or green categories.
• 3 discs were clearly blue, three clearly green, and 10 were ambiguous (could be either).
• Participants had to establish a threshold to decide which discs counted as blue or green.
• Those from the consistent minority condition set their thresholds differently, judging more discs as green than those from the inconsistent condition.
• This effect was strongest among participants who did not publicly agree with the minority during the experiment, indicating the minority’s influence affected their private opinions rather than just public compliance.

Question 11

conclusions of Moscovici et al’s study

Answer 11

• the consistent condition of 8.42% is significantly higher than the inconsistent condition figure of 1.25%
• suggests that although minority influence is relatively small, consistency is the important variable

Question 12

evaluation points for minority influence

Answer 12

• supporting evidence for conversion from variation of Moscovici et al’s study
• supporting evidence for flexibility from Nemeth et al’s study
• undermining evidence for commitment and supporting evidence for flexibility

Question 13

supporting evidence for conversion from variation of Moscovici et al’s study

Answer 13

• Participants in variation of Moscovici et al’s study showed greater private agreement with the minority when responses were written down privately.
• Majority were persuaded internally but reluctant to express agreement publicly.
• Fear of being seen as radical or awkward may inhibit public expression of minority views.
• Supports the idea that minority influence works through internal conversion rather than public compliance.
• Suggests minorities may be less effective at producing public changes in opinion.

Question 14

supporting evidence for flexibility from Nemeth et al

Answer 14

• Nemeth et al. (1974) replicated Moscovici’s study but allowed participants to name all colors seen, not just one.
• Three conditions tested different minority response patterns:
  1. Random mix of ‘green’ and ‘green-blue’ responses (no clear pattern).
  2. Consistent but flexible responses: ‘green’ for bright slides, ‘green-blue’ for dimmer slides.
  3. Consistent but inflexible: ‘green’ on every trial.
• Condition 2 (flexible minority) influenced 21% of responses; conditions 1 and 3 showed little influence.
• Suggests flexible minorities who adapt their views are more persuasive than rigid, consistent minorities.
• Indicates consistency alone is not enough for minority influence; flexibility combined with consistency is key.
• Supports the theory but suggests it needs refinement to include flexibility as well as consistency.

Question 15

undermining evidence for commitment and supporting evidence for flexibility

Answer 15

• Committed minorities may be seen as ‘deviant’ by the majority, reducing their persuasiveness.
• Majority may avoid aligning with minorities to not appear deviant themselves.
• Steentjes et al. (2017) found negative stereotypes about environmentalists and feminists lowered influence.
• Focus on the minority’s deviance overshadows the message itself, limiting impact.
• Minorities must balance commitment with flexibility to avoid reinforcing negative stereotypes.
• Flexibility is crucial for minorities to be persuasive and avoid alienating the majority.

Question 16

evaluation points for Moscovici et al’s study

Answer 16

• weakness from artificial task
• weakness from real life situations

Question 17

weakness of Moscovici et al’s study from artificial task

Answer 17

• Moscovici et al.’s minority influence research used an artificial task (colour identification).
• This task is very different from real-life minority influence situations.
• Real-life consequences of minority influence (e.g., jury decisions) are much more serious.
• This reduces the external validity of the research.
• Findings may not accurately reflect how minority influence works in real-world contexts.

Question 18

weakness of Moscovici et al’s study from real life situations

Answer 18

• Real-life minority influence is more complex than lab studies focused on numbers.
• Majorities usually have greater power and status than minorities.
• Minorities tend to be highly committed due to facing strong opposition.
• Minorities often form close-knit, supportive groups.
• Lab research may not capture these real-world complexities.
• This limits external validity and the practical usefulness of findings.