Studies in social influence: V. Minority influence and conversion behavior in a perceptual task

The effects of influence attempts by a majority and by a minority were examined on both a manifest response level and a latent perceptual level. Female subjects were exposed to a series of blue slides that were consistently labeled as green by a female confederate. The confederate was presented as a member of either a majority or a minority. On each trial, subjects were required to indicate the color of the slide presented and the color of the afterimage perceived on a white screen following removal of the slide. It was predicted that (a) the subject's judgment of the chromatic afterimage would be modified when the influence agent represented a minority, and (b) this modification will be more pronounced when the source of influence is absent than when it is present. The results supported the prediction in both the main study and its replication.     

Studies in social influence IV: Minority influence in a context of original judgments

This research was devoted to the studv of minoritv influence in a context of originality of judgments. It was stimulated by a consideration of the role pla-ved by the normative context in influence processes. In most research, this implicitlv underlies the phenomena studied. Thus, studies of social control have naturally appealed to the objectivity context. Innovation, in the social milieu in which it is involved, frequentlv implies an originality context. We hoped to study experimentally its effects on the process of social change. To this end, five experimental conditions were created, in which the originality norm was introduced in different ways – by experimental instructions, by influencing the perception of his own creativity by each individual and by using the time factor to encourage the fuller acceptance of this norm. In each condition, a consistent minority defended a deviant response in a colour perception task (the experimental paradigm used in our previous research using an objectivity context). The originality context affected the development of minority influence. Judgment based on perceptual evidence was abandoned to a significant degree, and new influence behaviours appeared. Individuals followed the minority or avoided the conflict by apparently original compromise responses. They were able to adopt several modes of response in the destructured way during the experiment, as they could oppose the minority by adopting a counter-norm. Although these reactions depended on the way in which the originality norm was introduced, theprimary role in this process was nevertheless played by the minority, which provided the pole of attraction and persuasion in the group.     

Contrary effects of group cohesiveness in minority influence: Intergroup categorization of the source and levels of influence

The roles of group cohesiveness and intergroup categorization of the source in minority influence were studied in a 2 (high versus low cohesiveness) × 2 (ingroup versus outgroup source) × 3 (phases) factorial design. Six subjects forming a group were confronted with a confederate defending a minority position in a perceptual task. The results indicated a manifest influence effect (slide colour), accompanied by a latent polarization (afterimage) in the high cohesrveness/outgroup source condition, and a latent unfluence effect in the low cohesiveness/ingroup source condition.     

Negotiations,image of the other and the process of minority influence

The new theoretical presuppositions used by Moscovici to explain social influence phenomena led him to show that the consistency of behavior can account for the influence of a minority. Experimental data confirm this idea. However, some counter-examples, showing that consistency sometimes induces subjects to refuse compromises, are problematical. To clear up this apparent contradiction, a distinction is made between behavioral style (in the face of the majority norm) and the style of negotiation (in the face of the population the minority wants to influence). A first experiment, then, shows that when two minorities are seen as equally consistent, the minority with a flexible style of negotiation has more influence than the more rigid minority. A second experiment deals with Ss' perception of the source of influence and clarifies the effects of minority negotiations; the links between opinions, opinion change and perception of others are also clarified.     

Patterning of the minority's responses and their influence on the majority

In reaction to the decades of research that tended to assume that social influence is synonymous with conformity, recent work has concentrated on the ability of a minority, by having a system of answers of its own, to influence the majority in the direction of their judgments. A study by Moscovici, Lage and Naffrechoux (1969) demonstrated this phenomenon but found that consistency of response, in the sense of repetition, was necessary for minority influence to be effected. They assumed that repetition was necessary to give the minority judgment the same value as that of the majority and to intensify the conflict that was engendered by the differences in opinion. Our position is that the lack of repetition in that study was construed to mean that the minority did not really have a position in which they were confident. As such, they were discounted. Thus, it is the attribution of consistency and confidence that leads to minority influence, not intensification of the conflict. The present study found that non-repetitious behavior by a minority could be seen as reflecting consistency and confidence and could lead to minority influence provided the inconsistency was patterned with some property of the stimulus. Such ‘inconsistency’ was perceived as favorable and as effective as any other condition and even more effective than one of the repetitious conditions.     

Advertising effectiveness as a function of numerical support: From majority compliance to minority conversion

In an experiment, we manipulated numerical support (majority versus minority versus absence of support) for advertising commercials and examined its effects at both manifest and latent levels. Results indicated that commercials induce greater manifest influence when receiving majority support and greater latent influence under minority support. In a second study, minority support for commercials was held constant while the modality of comparison between source and target was manipulated (independence versus negative interdependence). Results revealed that latent influence occurs only when the social comparison is independent. These results and their implications for the conception of advertising campaigns are discussed with regard to the conversion theory and the dissociation process.     

Behavioural style and group cohesiveness as sources of minority influence

Behavioural style and group cohesiveness were tested as sources of minority influence under conditions in which rejection of the minority from the group was possible and under conditions in which it was not. Female subjects (N = 120) were led to believe that they were interacting as a group and that they held a majority position on a relevant issue. The influence agent, ostensibly one of the group members, advocated a minority position throughout their interaction. Three variables were manipulated: group cohesiveness (high or low), behavioural style of the deviate (high or low consistency) and opportunity for rejection of the deviate from the group (possible or not possible). It was predicted that the deviate would be more influential under high cohesive than under low cohesive conditions and that she would be most influential when she was highly consistent and there was no opportunity to reject her. Although both hypotheses were confirmed, unexpected minority influence effects were also found.     

Minority influence and idiosyncrasy credit: A new comparison of the Moscovici and Hollander theories of innovation

Moscovici's model of minority influence and Hollander's model of idiosyncrasy credit were compared in an experiment conducted with I6 discussion groups composed of four male undergraduates (N = 64) and a confederate. Their task was to rank-order unanimously 10 proposals to remediate urban problems, to which the confederate attempted to have one more added, thus introducing a norm change. Two variables were manipulated: Status of the innovator (minority versus elected leader) and Ideological criterion for innovation (avant-garde versus reformist). It was predicted that the consistent behavioural style of the minority would make him more influential under the avant-garde condition than under the reformist condition whereas the idiosyncrasy credit of the leader would make him more influential under the reformist condition. Although the adoption hypotheses failed to be supported, the evaluations of the confederate were consistent with both the Moscovici and Hollander models. While the minority con federate's action gained him visibility and distinctive attributions of determination and assurance, the leader con federate's initiative cost him his competence and cooperation credits. Strategies devised to adopt the innovation or to reject it (five groups versus four) pointed to the importance of interactive networks within the majority and to the decisive role played by group leaders for the innovator's influence to be exerted. These findings lead to speculate that Hollander's theorizing could be complementary to Moscovici's to account for the diffusion of minority influence.     

Représentations sociales et influence sociale

Since content and structure of social representations are determined through communication, their link with the study of social influence should be of relevance. Three research programs are presented. In the tradition of social influence studies, the first one demonstrates that a majority source induces manifest influence on a social representation, whereas influence induced by a minority is latent. Considering an expert source, the second one confirms that high status sources may induce only superficial influence, showing that such dynamics are due to identity stakes. The third one examines the reciprocal influence that social representations may exert on the social influence processes themselves.     

Independence and interdependence of group judgments: Xenophobia and minority influence

A first experiment examined the effects of two methods of dividing resources between Swiss nationals and foreign residents in a study involving 118 subjects. Subjects gave judgments involving either interdependent allocation (resources allocated to the outgroup cannot be allocated to the ingroup) or independent allocation. The results indicated that the socio-cognitive functioning preferred by subjects varies as a function of their view of outsiders. Interdependence of judgments was more characteristic of the most xenophobic subjects, whereas the least xenophobic were more likely to reason in terms of independence. On the other hand, intermediate subjects (those who were clearly neither for nor against outsiders) were sensitive to these modalities of judgment: interdependence engendered an ingroup favoritism, while independence counteracted this bias. A second experiment further analysed the influence of a more or less imperative minority argument on the attitudes of 109 more xenophobic subjects. Independent as compared to interdependent judgment facilitated a latent influence by the source, especially when the source employed a more imperative rhetoric to urge a more favourable attitude to foreigners.     

Age differences in the effects of social influence on children's eyewitness performance and their metacognitive monitoring

The current work investigated the effects of social influence on children's recall accuracy and metacognitive monitoring. Two studies were conducted in which 8- and 10-year-olds were confronted with postevent information in an interview situation. An interviewer (Study 1) or a confederate (Study 2) provided postevent information with two levels of assertiveness, inducing (a) a variation of conformity pressure and (b) a variation of information credibility. Afterwards, children's confidence judgments were assessed. The results revealed significant age differences in children's ability to adequately cope with variations of social influence. Although conformity pressure was especially important for the 8-year-olds, effects of informative social influence were independent of age. However, 10-year-olds were also able to act appropriately on low credibility, thereby demonstrating a more sophisticated consideration of social influence sources. Moreover, varying assertiveness also affected the quality of children's confidence judgments by improving their metacognitive differentiation skills.     

Heuristic processing of distinctiveness information in minority and majority influence

The role of distinctiveness information in majority and minority influence was studied. Students read a message containing strong or weak arguments advocated by a minority or majority source. The communicator's minority (majority) status was said to be either distinctive to the target topic or nondistinctive across topics. Major dependent variables were attitude judgments and cognitive responses. Across conditions, messages were processed systematically, and a majority communicator tended to be more persuasive than a minority communicator. Most importantly, high distinctiveness led to greater influence than low distinctiveness, and this effect was independent of argument strength and minority versus majority status. Theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

L’influence médiatique sur les jugements judiciaires : rôle du style d’écriture dans la formation des jugements

This article has two main goals: first, to review past research concerning the influence of pretrial publicity on judiciary judgements, and second, to present new empirical data concerning the impact of writing style in the media influence phenomenon. The three studies presented in this article show: 1/ that the morphosyntactical style of press articles can be distinguished as a function of the domain to which they pertain (judiciary, economic, politics, sports), 2/ that readers can readily recognize and identify the judiciary morphosyntactical style, and 3/ that the conformity of an article vs. its non-conformity to the judiciary style has some independent effect on memory about the article's content and on the elaboration of judiciary judgements by readers.     

Minority Influence

The present paper reviews social psychological research on minority influence. Minorities by proposing alternative and original ideas are often an agent of innovation and social change for societies. They create social conflict by proposing alternative propositions to the established societal perceptions. Minorities are, usually, numerically small groups that question social norms. Minorities influence people’s thinking, attitudes, and behavior by being consistent and flexible in their negotiation with majority members. Their influence is more often latent (i.e., evident on delayed, indirect, and private measures) than manifest. They affect the amount, and the quality, of cognitive processing of their messages (triggered by the different elaboration demands of the influence situation). Minority influence interacts with various situational factors such as social identity (in‐group or out‐group) and the task employed (e.g., objective or opinion) leading to different kinds of influence outcomes.     

Social categorization in minority influence: The case of homosexuality

Three experiments were conducted in order to compare the influence of ingroup and outgroup minorities and to assess the role of Zeitgeist perception in minority influence. The results confirmed that ingroup minorities are more influential than outgroup minorities. This overall finding was observed in two different experimental paradigms, using either a small group setting in which subjects interacted with the minority or the simultaneous social influence paradigm in which both influence sources impinge simultaneously (via written information) upon the subjects. These results were supportive of Tajfel's social identity theory while contradicting Kelley's augmenting/discounting principle. Finally, subjects' perception of the Zeitgeist was unrelated to the magnitude of minority influence.     

Improvement in Detection of Differential Item Functioning Using a Mixture Item Response Theory Model

Usually, methods for detection of differential item functioning (DIF) compare the functioning of items across manifest groups. However, the manifest groups with respect to which the items function differentially may not necessarily coincide with the true source of the bias. It is expected that DIF detection under a model that includes a latent DIF variable is more sensitive to this source of bias. In a simulation study, it is shown that a mixture item response theory model, which includes a latent grouping variable, performs better in identifying DIF items than DIF detection methods using manifest variables only. The difference between manifest and latent DIF detection increases as the correlation between the manifest variable and the true source of the DIF becomes smaller. Different sample sizes, relative group sizes, and significance levels are studied. Finally, an empirical example demonstrates the detection of heterogeneity in a minority sample using a latent grouping variable. Manifest and latent DIF detection methods are applied to a Vocabulary test of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB).     

Majority influence,minority influence and conversion behavior: A replication

A recent experiment by Moscovici and Personnaz (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1980, 16, 270–282) showed that whereas a majority produces merely compliance, or a change in the individual's verbal responses, a minority induces conversion, or a true change in one's subjective judgments. Because of the theoretical significance of these findings and because of their inconsistency with data from other experiments, an exact replication and extension of this experiment was performed. There was no evidence of compliance in any social influence condition. Instead, and in contrast to Moscovici and Personnaz, both a majority and a minority produced “conversion” behavior. Subjects' behavior is interpreted as the expression of an improved perception, resulting from a heightened level of attention to the object of judgment under social influence conditions.     

Internalization versus compliance: Differential processes underlying minority influence and conformity

Two experiments investigated whether minority influence and conformity operate by the same or by different processes. It was predicted that subjects who were simultaneously exposed to a majority and a minority opinion would move towards the minority in private but towards the majority in public. The results of Experiment 1 supported this hypothesis. Experiment 2 investigated three hypotheses predicting that (1) the above interaction would be replicated, (2) minorities would trigger more arguments and counter-arguments, and (3) cognitive activity would mediate internalization but not compliance. Hypotheses 1 and 3 were supported. The second hypothesis was not supported. However, minorities were found to trigger more arguments and fewer counter-arguments than majorities. The results were interpreted as supporting the dual process model.     

Indirect majority and minority influence: An exploratory study

In a 2 × 2 design, 85 subjects were asked to estimate the size of angles (direct influence) that were either 90 or 85°, after being confronted with incorrect judgements of a majority (88 per cent) or a minority (12 per cent) of people estimating the angles at 50°. Additionally, pre- and post-test measures were used to establish indirect influence on subjects' judgements pertaining to acute angles (i.e. on the estimation of the length of lines constituting the angles, and on the imaginary weight of figures represented by these angles). Overall, little direct influence is observed. This may partly be due to the introduction of a denial of the credibility of the source in all conditions. In fact, some evidence of direct influence is only found in the majority–85° angles condition. An instance of indirect influence (on the estimation of length of lines) appeared as the result of a majority stance when the angles in the experimental phase were 90°. When these angles were 85°, indirect minority influence (on the estimation of weight of figures) was observed. These effects had been predicted on the basis of the hypothesis stating that indirect majority influence would be possible when subjects expected consensus on the correct response (in the 90° angles condition), without being able to reach consensus at the manifest level (because of the denial and the restriction imposed by the clear shape of 90° angles). Indirect minority influence was hypothesized to be stronger in a situation that allows for diverse responses (i.e. for 85° angles).     

Synchronic consistency and psychologization in minority influence

The importance of synchronic consistency as a factor facilitating minority influence had not previously been the object of a systematic study. We carried out a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 experiment aimed at studying the consequences of a) ideological similarity or dissimilarity of two minority sources belonging to b) a single minority or two different ones, on subjects c) ideologically both close and distant from positions defended by the influence sources, d) according to the absence or presence of psychologization. In the main, our hypotheses were confirmed. As expected concerning the ‘close’ subjects, in the absence of psychologization, the similarity and dissimilarity between minority sources take over, respectively, the signification of consistency and inconsistency and, consequently, increase or decrease the influence exerted by the minority sources. Psychologization decreases the benefits of synchronic consistency. Contrariwise, the ‘distant’ subjects did not seem to follow the same ‘logic’: the condition of opinion dissimilarity in the same minority is the most influential; its influence, however, diminishes when the divergence of opinion is explained by means of a psychological dissimilarity. Data related to the image of the sources indicate that the influence process is no longer determined by perceived consistency or inconsistency, but by the objectivity attributed to minorities. Under these circumstances, intra-minority pluralism became the guaranteer of objectivity.