Social influence: minority influence
Definition: a form of social influence, takes place when a member of a minority group
influences the majority to accept the minority's beliefs or behaviour.
Features of a minority
Consistency
Repeating the same message to challenge the belief of the majority, stably, consistency can be within the
minority group (synchronic) to check agreement within the groups message, and over time (diachronic)
frequently drawing attention to the minority view
Moscovici’s study: into minority influence had groups 6 participants view blue coloured slides where each
group had 2 confederates purposely saying they were green to see whether p. would change their answer.
P. agreed with the confederates on 8.4%. Where the minority was inconsistent, agreement dropped to
1.25% and 0.25% with no minority (confederates). This study demonstrates the importance of a
consistent minority to make effective change.
Commitment
When members of the minority prove their dedication to the belief by making sacrifices (sometimes lethal
ones -augmentation principle) for example Rosa Parks willing to be arrested to show her commitment.
Proving their involvement is not out of self interest
Flexibility
The minority is not dogmatic and prepared to adapt their view based on alternative views to prevent from
seeming unreasonable.
Snowball effect
Over time, the majority change their view because of deeper processing and internalising of the minority
view, this is gradual by hearing the views shared by others.
Social crypto amnesia
Public opinion changes gradually over time until the minority view is accepted as the norm. However,
people forget where the root of change came from!
Evaluation A03
Support for the effectiveness of MI: In a variation of Moscovici’s study where participants could
write down their answer privately, agreement with the minority increased, this would suggest that
minority influence is powerful, but people are not comfortable to admit their agreement to
minorities publicly. Further, Nemeth suggested this is because dissenting minorities are often
labelled as radical and disrupting of the ‘harmony’ that the majority has and are therefore
marginalised. This questions the effectiveness of minority influence because many often lose
valuable opportunity to engage because of the labels behind minorities.
Research support: Wood conducted a meta-analysis of 100 relevant studies that follow a moscovici
type procedure and found consistent minorities were the most effective, supporting the importance
of the role of consistency. Further, Martin supported the idea that changing to a minority influence
involves deeper thought processes as in his message study, minority less likely to change opinion
Counterpoint: However, studies into minority influence often use artificial tasks (such as identifying
the colour of slides) which lack mundane realism, and do not reflect real life situations for example
Definition: a form of social influence, takes place when a member of a minority group
influences the majority to accept the minority's beliefs or behaviour.
Features of a minority
Consistency
Repeating the same message to challenge the belief of the majority, stably, consistency can be within the
minority group (synchronic) to check agreement within the groups message, and over time (diachronic)
frequently drawing attention to the minority view
Moscovici’s study: into minority influence had groups 6 participants view blue coloured slides where each
group had 2 confederates purposely saying they were green to see whether p. would change their answer.
P. agreed with the confederates on 8.4%. Where the minority was inconsistent, agreement dropped to
1.25% and 0.25% with no minority (confederates). This study demonstrates the importance of a
consistent minority to make effective change.
Commitment
When members of the minority prove their dedication to the belief by making sacrifices (sometimes lethal
ones -augmentation principle) for example Rosa Parks willing to be arrested to show her commitment.
Proving their involvement is not out of self interest
Flexibility
The minority is not dogmatic and prepared to adapt their view based on alternative views to prevent from
seeming unreasonable.
Snowball effect
Over time, the majority change their view because of deeper processing and internalising of the minority
view, this is gradual by hearing the views shared by others.
Social crypto amnesia
Public opinion changes gradually over time until the minority view is accepted as the norm. However,
people forget where the root of change came from!
Evaluation A03
Support for the effectiveness of MI: In a variation of Moscovici’s study where participants could
write down their answer privately, agreement with the minority increased, this would suggest that
minority influence is powerful, but people are not comfortable to admit their agreement to
minorities publicly. Further, Nemeth suggested this is because dissenting minorities are often
labelled as radical and disrupting of the ‘harmony’ that the majority has and are therefore
marginalised. This questions the effectiveness of minority influence because many often lose
valuable opportunity to engage because of the labels behind minorities.
Research support: Wood conducted a meta-analysis of 100 relevant studies that follow a moscovici
type procedure and found consistent minorities were the most effective, supporting the importance
of the role of consistency. Further, Martin supported the idea that changing to a minority influence
involves deeper thought processes as in his message study, minority less likely to change opinion
Counterpoint: However, studies into minority influence often use artificial tasks (such as identifying
the colour of slides) which lack mundane realism, and do not reflect real life situations for example
