Occurs when a minority/small group of people have
the ability to influence others to adopt their beliefs
and behaviours. This leads to internalisation or
conversion. Private beliefs, like public, are changed.
3 processes
Consistency
Minority must be consistent
Synchronic consistency
All saying the same thing
Diachronic consistency
Have been saying the same thing for some time now
A consistent minority makes
other people rethink their own
views
Commitment
Augmentation principle
Minorities engage in extreme activities to draw
attention and present risk to highlight
commitment.
Flexibility
Charles Nemeth (1986)
Consistency can be off-putting. May be seen as
rigid, dogmatic and unbending.
Instead minorities should adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and
valid counter-argument. To balance flexibility.
Process of change
Hearing something you agree with
doesnt make you stop and think, it is
something new that will make you
think deeply.
Snowball effect
Deeper processing leads to the process of
conversion, overtime rate of conversion
increases and "gathers more snow"
Evaluation
Strengths
Research support for consistency
Moscovici et al
Blue/green slide study showed that a
consistent minority opinion had a
greater effect on changing the views
of other people.
Wendy Wood et al (1994) carried out a
meta-analysis of 100 similar studies and found
that consistent minorities were most influential
Research support for deeper processing
Martin et al (2003) presented a message
supporting a viewpoint and measured the
participants agreement. 1 group then heard a
minority agree with the initial view and
another heard a majority.
Participants were exposed to
a conflicting view then
measured their views and
attitudes. Less willing to
change their view if they had
heard a minority influence.
Minority message had been more deeply
processed and had a more enduring effect.
Weaknesses
Artificial tasks
Research is removed from how minorities
attempt to change the behaviour of
majorities in real life. Jury decision making
and political campaigning has vastly more
important outcomes.
Findings of minority influence studies lack external
validity so are limited in telling us how the world
works.
Real world is more complicated
Majorities in the real world are more
powerful and hold a lot more status.