Minority Influence

Definition of minority influence?

A type of social influence that motivates individuals

How does a minority group influence others?

Consistency

Consistent minorities are persuasive, creates doubt about established viewpoints/beliefs.

Commitment

Consistency in the face of abuse shows minorities are committed and helps motivate individuals to consider their viewpoint

Flexibility

Minorities who compromise and are slightly inconsistent are more persuasive – this questions the importance of consistency. Being to consistent can appear as dogmatic and rigid.

Social Crypto Amnesia?

This gradual process by which minority opinions become majority opinions is known as ‘social’ crypto amnesia (the snow ball effect)
To start with, conversion to the minority view point is slow and there are only a few people
As more individuals change their attitudes, the pace of conversion picks up as the minority gains status power and acceptability.

Evaluation

Supporting research for consistency - Moscivici et al (1969)

Groups of 6 participants – had to view 36 blue coloured slides and state whether the slides were green or blue.
2 confederates in each group who gave consistently wrong answers.
32% of participants gave the same wrong answer as the minority on at least 1 trial.
Control group 1 - inconsistent confederates = 1.25% gave wrong answer.
Control group 2 – no confederates = 0.25% gave wrong answer.
This supports the consistency assumption of minority influence.

Support for flexibility in minority influence – Nemeth (1986)

3 participants and 1 confederate
Had to decide how much compensation to give someone who had been a victim of a ski lift accident
When confederate was too consistent and didn’t budge with their lower amount than the 3 participants decided on their amount
When the confederate was more flexible and agreed a slighter higher price than their original price, the 3 participants went with the confederates lower amount

Psych - Memory