Moscovici Study (69)

Procedure.

Moscovici ran a lab experiment into minority influence using 192 women in groups of 6 at a time. 

They judged the colour of 36 slides, all blue of various shades.

2 of the 6 were confederates there were 2 conditons. 

Consistent confederates called all 36 slides green

Inconsistent Confederates called 24 slides green and 12 blue

There was also a control group with no confederates present.

Results and conclusion.

Control group - the slides were called green 0.25% of the time Consistent - 8.4% adopted the minority position.  32% said green at least once Inconsistent - 1.25% adopted minority position.

From this we conclude that the confederates were the minority but their views appear to have influenced the pps. The use of two conditions illustrated that the minority had more influence when they were consistent in calling slides green.

Evaluation.

Method.

The experiment took place in a lab, this means that extraneous variables will have been controlled. These high levels of control allow the results to be reliable and can be replicated.

Validity.

The study lacks ecological validity, this is because it's not a usual everyday task the women will have carried out before. This uncommon situation will have an effect on the results, making them not generalisable beyond the research setting.

Reliability.

The study has low population validity. This is because the experiment only included women, because of this gynocentric bias sample the results are not generalisable to the whole population. 

Procedure

Results and conclusion

Evaluation