Minority Influence
Minority influence and behavioral style
Conversion to a minority position tends to be deeper and longer lasting because people have internalised the minority's point of view. To bring about conversion, minorities must adopt a particular behavioral style of being consistent, committed and flexible in their arguments.
Consistency: If the minority adopt a consistent approach others come to reassess the situation and consider the issue more carefully. Wood et al. (1994) meta-analysis found that consistent minorities were more influential.
Commitment: This is important because it suggests certainty and confidence in the face of a hostile majority. If minority members demonstrate greater commitment it might persuade other group members to take them seriously.
Flexibility: Mugny (1982) suggests flexibility is more effective at changing majority opinion than rigidity. A rigid minority risks being perceived as dogmatic, but a minority that is too flexible risks being sen as inconsistent.
Key Study: Moscovici et al. (1969)
Procedure
Each group had 4 naive participants and a minority of two confederates. They were shown a series of blue slides that varied only in intensity and were asked to judge the color of each slide.
Consistent condition- Confederates repeatedly called blue slides green
Inconsistent condition- Confederates called the slides green on two- thirds of trials and blue on one-third.
Control condition- (no confederates) participants called all slides blue
Findings
The consistent minority influenced the naive participants to say green on over 8% of the trials. The inconsistent minority exerted very little influence, and did not differ significantly from the control group.
Evaluation
Research support for flexibility Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987) provided support for the role of flexibility in a simulated jury situation. When a confederate put forward an alternative view and refused to change his position , this had no effect on other group members. However, a confederate who compromised did exert an influence, but only if they shifted late in negotiations.
The real 'value' of minority influence Nemeth (2010) argues that, as a result of exposure to a minority position people consider more options and make better decisions. This view is supported by Van Dyne and Saavedra (1996), who found that work groups had improved decision quality when exposed to a minority perspective.
Do we really process the minority's message more? Mackie (1987) argues it is the majority who are more likely to create greater message processing. If the majority express a different belief to the one we hold, we consider it carefully to understand why this is the case. People tend not to waste time trying to process why a minority's message is different, so it tends to be less rather than more influential.
A 'tipping point' for commitment Xie et al. (2011) discovered a 'tipping point' where the number of people holding a minority position is sufficient to change majority opinion. They used computer models of social networks, with individuals encountering individuals representing an alternative point of view. The percentage of committed opinion holders necessary to 'tip' the majority into accepting the minority position was just 10%
Minority influence in name only Nemeth (2010) claims it is difficult to convince people of the value of dissent. People accept the principle only on the surface, but they become more irritated by a dissenting view hat persists. This means that the opportunities for innovative thinking associated with minority influence are lost.
Key Terms
Commitment: the degree to which members of a minority are dedicated to a position. The greater the perceived commitment, the greater the influence.
Consistency: Minority influence is effective provided there is a stability in the expressed position over time and agreement among different members of the minority
Flexibility: A willingness to be flexible and to compromise rather than being rigid when expressing a position
Minority Influence: A form of social influence where members of the majority group change their beliefs or behaviors a a result of their exposure to a persuasive minority.