Minority Influence

This section explores Minority Influence within Psychology. Minority influence refers to a form of social influence where a small group (the minority) influences the beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours of a larger group (the majority). Unlike conformity, where the individual aligns with the majority, minority influence involves convincing the majority to adopt the views or behaviours of the minority. This type of influence is often slower to achieve but can lead to lasting, meaningful change in beliefs and practices.

Minority Influence

Key Characteristics of Effective Minority Influence:

Consistency: The minority’s message must be stable and unchanging over time.

Commitment: The minority must show dedication to its position, often through sacrifice or taking risks.

Flexibility: The minority must avoid appearing rigid and instead show an openness to compromise and adapt.

The Role of Consistency

Consistency is a critical factor in successful minority influence. When the minority consistently presents its views, it increases the likelihood that others will pay attention to and consider its message.

Synchronic Consistency: Agreement within the minority group itself. When all members present a united front, it reinforces the credibility and strength of the minority’s position.

Diachronic Consistency: Stability of the message over time. If the minority consistently upholds the same views over an extended period, it signals dedication and conviction to the majority.

Why Consistency Works: A consistent message appears well thought out and credible, which causes the majority to rethink its own views. Consistency can create cognitive conflict, where the majority starts questioning its beliefs, opening the door to reconsideration.

Supporting Research

Moscovici et al. (1969): In his colour perception experiment, Moscovici studied the effect of a consistent minority on majority opinions. Participants were shown blue slides and asked to identify the colour. When two confederates consistently said the slides were green, about 8% of participants conformed at least once. When the minority’s responses were inconsistent, conformity dropped significantly, demonstrating that consistency is crucial in influencing the majority.

The Role of Commitment

Commitment refers to the minority’s dedication to its cause, often demonstrated through sacrifices, risk-taking, or personal hardship. Commitment signals to the majority that the minority genuinely believes in its position, which can make the majority take the minority’s views more seriously.

The Augmentation Principle: Commitment can sometimes be demonstrated through acts of sacrifice, which are known as augmentation. This principle suggests that if the minority is willing to make sacrifices or put themselves at risk for their beliefs, they are seen as more committed, which strengthens their influence. For example, individuals who protest or go on hunger strikes for a cause may gain public sympathy and respect, making their views more persuasive.

Why Commitment Works: High levels of commitment suggest that the minority is confident and deeply invested in its stance. This can lead the majority to question why the minority feels so strongly, which increases the likelihood of deeper processing of the minority’s message.

Real-World Example

The Suffragette Movement: Suffragettes endured imprisonment and other hardships to advocate for women’s voting rights in early 20th-century Britain. Their commitment to the cause, including personal sacrifice, eventually persuaded wider society to consider and adopt their viewpoint.

The Role of Flexibility

While consistency and commitment are important, a minority that is too rigid can be seen as dogmatic, leading to resistance from the majority. Flexibility involves showing a willingness to compromise, adapt, or moderate one’s position. A flexible minority is often more effective because it appears reasonable, cooperative, and open to dialogue.

Importance of Balance: An effective minority strikes a balance between maintaining core principles (consistency) and showing adaptability (flexibility). If the minority group appears too unyielding, the majority may dismiss them as extreme or impractical.

Why Flexibility Works: When the minority demonstrates flexibility, it gives the impression that they are not just pushing an agenda but are open to reasonable discussion and compromise. This cooperative stance makes the majority more likely to engage with the minority’s arguments rather than simply rejecting them.

Supporting Research

Nemeth (1986): Nemeth demonstrated the importance of flexibility in minority influence through a simulated jury scenario. Groups discussed the amount of compensation to award in an accident case. A confederate minority argued for a lower amount and was either flexible (offered some compromise) or inflexible (stuck rigidly to the low amount). The flexible minority was more successful in influencing the majority than the inflexible one, suggesting that flexibility is crucial in gaining support.

Process of Minority Influence: Deeper Processing and Internalisation

Minority influence often leads to deeper processing in the majority, where they examine and consider the minority’s position more carefully. This can result in internalisation, where the majority not only accepts the minority view publicly but also adopts it privately. Over time, this private acceptance can lead to permanent changes in beliefs and behaviours, known as conversion.

Conversion through the Snowball Effect:

Snowball Effect: Minority influence begins slowly but gains momentum as more people from the majority shift their views to align with the minority. Initially, only a few people may be persuaded by the minority, but as these individuals become advocates for the minority position, the influence snowballs. Eventually, the minority view becomes the majority view.

Social Cryptoamnesia: Once the minority view becomes widely accepted, people may forget that it originally came from a minority. This phenomenon can lead to social change where the origins of the new norms or beliefs are no longer remembered.

Evaluation of Minority Influence

Strengths

• Supporting Evidence: Research such as Moscovici’s and Nemeth’s studies provide empirical support for the importance of consistency, commitment, and flexibility in minority influence.
• Real-World Application: Understanding minority influence can explain and support social movements and societal change, as seen in the examples of civil rights and environmental movements.

Limitations

• Artificial Research Settings: Much of the research on minority influence, including Moscovici’s study, was conducted in artificial settings, limiting ecological validity. The tasks used in experiments may not accurately reflect real-life situations, where minority influence occurs in more complex social contexts.
• Limited Focus on Individual Differences: Not everyone is equally influenced by minority views, and factors such as personality, cultural background, and social context can play a significant role. These individual differences are often not addressed in studies of minority influence.

Summary of Minority Influence

Consistency: A consistent stance over time and among minority members increases credibility and encourages the majority to consider the minority view.

Commitment: Demonstrating dedication to the cause, especially through sacrifices, strengthens the minority’s influence by signalling conviction.

Flexibility: Showing adaptability and a willingness to compromise avoids perceptions of rigidity, making the minority’s message more persuasive to the majority.

Minority influence can lead to deep, lasting changes in society by encouraging individuals to critically examine and potentially adopt alternative views. Through mechanisms such as the snowball effect and social cryptoamnesia, once-radical views can eventually become widely accepted norms.