Evaluating minority influence

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Evaluating minority influence

Advantages

  • Research supporting consistency - Wood’s meta-analysis of studies similar to Moscovici and found that consistent minorities were most influential.
  • Research supporting processing - Martin showed a viewpoint and measured participants agreement. One group heard a minority view and one group heard a majority view. People were less likely to change their opinion if they had heard the minority group’s view, suggesting that this view is processed deeper.

Disadvantages

  • Countering processing research - Martin’s study had clear majority/minority which are not relatable to real world research. Majorities often have great power and status, whereas minorities face oppression. These are absent from research, meaning that findings are not representative of true life.
  • Artificiality - Moscovici’s task was mundane and lacked realism. Often in reality minorities attempt to influence the majority about huge issues surrounding religion, race and gender, sometimes with a “life or death” impact. Research lacks this, which impacts on the external validity of findings.
  • Power of minority influence - Moscovici’s study found consistent agreement with a minority was 8%, which shows it is rare for a minority to influence a majority.

Evaluation

Overall, minority influence has strengths and limitations. Research both supports and disagrees with minority influence, but overall I think this is not a strong argument. 

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