Minority Influence

Minority Influence

• Consistency: A minority group will be more successful if they are consistent with their message over time, this consistency is harder for the majority to ignore, if they are not consistent the majority is likely to ignore them.
• Commitment: When the minority shows particular dedication to their cause and is even willing to make sacrifices, this is important as it proves they are not acting out of self-interest.
• Flexibility: Consistency can be seen as stuborness, therefore compromises should be accepted.

Evidence of Consistency:

A meta-analysis of 100 studies found that minorities who were consistent were the most influential.

Moscovici:

Procedure - A group of 6 viewed 36 blue sides and then asked if it was blue or green. 

Group 1 had an consistent minority of two confederates who argued that the tials were green 2/3rds of the time.

Group 2 had 2 inconsistent confederates arguing that the tials were green 2/3rds of the time.

Findings:

Group 1 was significantly more influential than group 2.

Evaluation: 

The study uses the experimental method, there is therefore a higher…