The snowball effect is when initial, small actions such as advocating for a minority lead to society-wide changes in attitudes, e.g., when the minority becomes the majority. Latan, B. The research of Moscovici and his colleagues opened the door to more research on the subject. Group dynamics. As a result, the company required at least one of the three junior managers in training to be a woman or underrepresented minority. The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right. A lasting quote from Norwegian playwright. In his opinion, it is also possible for a minority to influence the majority. Social psychology: Classic and contemporary integrations (7th Ed.). These are the questions that Romanian-French psychologist Serge Moscovici asked himself in the 1960s and the 1970s. "The social impact of majorities and minorities". Clark and Maass (1990) looked at the interaction between minority influence and majorities of varying sizes, and found that, like Latan & Wolf's findings, the minority's influence decreases in a negatively accelerating power function as the majority increases. Mannix, E. & Neale, M. (2005). Upload unlimited documents and save them online. Power and status laboratory experiments are largely unable to represent and simulate the wide differences in power and status that often separate minorities and majorities. 74 Examples of Social Influence John Spacey, April 21, 2022 Social influence is change to an individual's thoughts, emotions or behaviors caused by other people. Moscovici referred to this as a conversion process. Minority influence: Personal relevance biases cognitive processes and reverses private acceptance. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.53.1.41, Maass, A., Clark, R. D., & Haberkorn, G. (1982). Nie wieder prokastinieren mit unseren Lernerinnerungen. The support of a leader gives the majority more confidence in the merit of the minority opinion, leading to an overall respect for the minority. One example of synchronous agreement is that the LGBTQIA+ community and its advocates share many of the same beliefs, including freedom of expression and freedom for people to have relationships with whomever they choose. Vaccines remain the best way to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Commitment refers to the perception that a group is serious about its beliefs and willing to initiate and implement change. Van Avermaet, E. (1996). Although more unusual, there are nevertheless cases in which a smaller number of individuals are able to influence the opinions or behaviors of the groupthis is minority influence. It can affect other individuals who are members of the majority through the process of conversion. (1986). European Journal of Social Psychology, 12(1), 89104. The process has then come full circle, where people conform to the new majority opinion. According to Nemeth (1986) inflexible minorities are more effective than flexible minorities. Moscovici asked a group of six people to look at 36 coloured slides. Feminine Foes: New Science Explores Female Competition. Women rely on veiled aggression towards other women (behind verbal gymnastics or under cover of the group) rather than physical confrontation. Moscovici asked participants to look at 36 coloured slides. By N., Sam M.S. Conversion is similar to internalisation. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. "Social influence in small groups". Informational Conformity In Another example of a minority movement, which led to social change, is the Ramblers campaign for free access to private lands. So Moscovici began to conduct experiments of his own. Men have long been silent and stoic about their inner lives, but theres every reason for them to open up emotionallyand their partners are helping. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20: 99117. Examples of minority influence are the LGBTQIA+ movement and the Ramblers campaign in the UK. Why dont people want to adopt black cats? This type of juror feels the need to reach a verdict quickly, and may feel social pressure outside of the group to deliver the decision in a time-efficient manner. This terminal part of minority influence can take time, but can also result in clear, systemic change. Eg. WebAnother example of minority influence would be the suffragettes converting the majority to accept womens rights to vote. Their belief that people should treat same-sex relationships the same as heterosexual relationships has survived today. What was the procedure used in the study of Nemeth (1986)? What is the minoritys message? Benjamin D. Rosenberg, Ph.D. is a social-health psychologist with expertise in research methods and statistics. After all, change happens with small steps. What Moscovici found is that while compliance sways people to believe in the majority opinion, another process can also occur. Test your knowledge with gamified quizzes. The analysis found that the minority group has more influence when it is consistent in its beliefs and actions. What is minority influence and how does it affect other individuals? The results showed that the majority heterosexual group debating was easier for the heterosexual participants to relate to. Minority influence is when an individual or smaller group influences a larger group. What is consistency in minority influence? Wood et al. The investigator asked groups of four participants to estimate the compensation that a ski lift accident victim should receive. In other words, would there be a minority influence? Consistency refers to the minority groups ability to stick to their ideas. Most of the research on minority influence is based on experiments conducted in laboratories. This video obviously doesnt end with Aschs theories on compliance. Groups, leadership and men. If a minority group is seen as dogmatic (rigid in their views) or too demanding, this can put people off. The snowball effect can explain how the minority can influence the majority. Conversion is different from compliance as it usually involves both public and private acceptance of a new view or behavior (i.e., internalization). A consistent minority disrupts established norms and creates uncertainty, doubt, and conflict. Also, Moscovici used only female students as participants (i.e., an unrepresentative sample), so it would be wrong to generalize his result to all people they only tell us about the behavior of female students. Step 3. In-group minorities are more likely to be successful, as they are seen as part of the group, and therefore their ideas are seen as more acceptable. prevent smoking in teenagers and discourage littering, when someone changes their private beliefs and behaviour in response to. [9] They explain that a person may question themself: "How can they be so wrong and yet so sure of themselves? He showed how people were more likely to comply with the majoritys opinion in order to fit in. Even if reality contradicted the majority opinion, people conformed. Asch agreed that minority influence needed to be explored. What is an example of minority influence that changed beliefs of the majority in the UK? Influence originating from a minority group, on the other hand, focuses on the message itself. When an individual's views differ from the majority view, this causes inner turmoil, motivating the individual to reduce conflict by using a comparison process, leading to compliance and public acceptance of the majority position to avoid ostracism and potential ridicule. People are more likely to engage in discussions and debate if they have gone through the process of systematic thinking. This was the day that the 19th amendment was ratified and women were given the right to vote. However, a minority consisting of two participants (secretly part of the research team) would claim that some slides shown were green. At this stage, the minority becomes the majority and the previous social norms shift. They tended to see the gay minority as different from themselves, as self-interested and concerned with promoting their own particular cause. Social influence and social change. What was the difference between the two experimental conditions of the Nemeth (1986) study? Minority influence is the pressure that the minority puts on the majority to change, and it's part of the process of social change. A number of researchers have questioned whether consistency alone is sufficient for a minority to influence a majority. For the heterosexual majority, the homosexual minority is an other, this perception can result in a lack of understanding or even hostility towards their message. Feeling like we are not alone can encourage us to voice our opposition towards the majority. Forsyth, D. R. (2010). Majority Influence Moscovici, a social psychologist, emphasized the role of minority influence. Along with changing the criteria of performance evaluations, the organization itself underwent a change in values and culture.[8]. They argue that the key is how the majority interprets consistency. Psychology Today 2023 Sussex Publishers, LLC. Let us look at some notable studies and explain what they found. Unlike majority influence, minority influence can rarely influence others through normative social influence because the majority is indifferent to the minority's perspective of them. This can be achieved a number of different ways (e.g., consistency and flexibility). Bashir et al. Maass & Clark (1984) arranged for a group of heterosexual participants to hear a debate on gay rights. However, if they appear flexible and compromising, they will be seen as less extreme and more reasonable, having a better chance of changing majority views. Minority influence, a form of social influence, takes place when a member of a minority group influences the majority to accept the minority's beliefs or behavior. For example, one study showed that a gay minority arguing for gay rights had less influence on a straight majority than a straight minority arguing for gay rights (Maass et al., 1982). The reason is that the heterosexual member of the majority identified with and was more understanding of other heterosexuals. An overwhelming consensus of climate scientists agrees that anthropogenic climate change is a reality. Additionally, the brain's reward system, which dopamine activates, influences how we make financial decisions. In order for a minority group to influence the majority, Moscovici found that they must have the following qualities or characteristics: When a minority opinion enters a discussion, it can be a bit confusing at first. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1983. A., Busceme, S., & Blackstone, T. (1994). Trost, M. R., Maass, A., & Kenrick, D. (1992). Four main factors have been identified as important for a minority to have an influence over a majority. There are two types of minority influence consistency: Diachronic consistency describes the consistency of ideas over time, and synchronic consistency describes the consistency of ideas among those who hold them. Systematic and nonsystematic processing of majority and minority persuasive communications. Minorities, then, do have some influence over the outcome. A study by Clark (1994) uses a jury setting from the film 12 Angry Men to investigate social influence. [14], Research shows that individuals are more likely to listen to the minority and take on their ideas if they identify with them as being similar to themselves. For example, members of womens rights, gay rights, and animal rights organizations, and members of pressure groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are very different from participants in laboratory experiments.