Social Influence - Social Change

  Moscovici (1969) "Calling a blue side green"

Aim: To look at how a consistent minority can affect the opinions of a larger group.              

Method: An all female group of P's were given an eye test to check they were not colour blind and were then placed in a group of 4 P's and 2 C's. They were then shown 36 slides that were different shades of blue and asked to state the colour out loud. In the frist group the C's answered green for every slide. In the second group the C's answered green for only 24 of the slides. 

Results: In the consistent group 8.42% of trials resulted in P's answering green(agreeing with minority). In the incosistent group 1.25% of P's answered green.

Conclusion: This study suggests thatminorities can change the opinion of the majority, particularly when they are consistent.

Evaluation: Lab experiment, lacked ecological validity. Participants saw the experiment as a purely trivial exercise, may have acted differently if principles were involved. Sample only women, gender difference (generalisibility).