The number of members within a group expressing a minority opinion also affects the level of influence that they are able to exert on the remaining members. The many reasons behind minorities pursuit of social change could be broadly recognized as seeking social validation, social control, or social acceptance. Minority influence in political decision-making, in Group Consensus and Minority Influence: Implications for Innovation. In Roosevelts understanding, Americans were born through no document; they were made by their encounters with the wilderness and their cultivation of strength, individualism and democratic community their commitment to a set of principles. Eur. A look at how social influence affects opinions and behavior. Nemeth, C. J., and Walacher, J. Int. Toward a theory of conversion behavior, in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 3. Changing majority and minority positions within a group vs. an aggregate. Social influence in groups, in Group Processes. Bull. In the immediate aftermath of social change, the new majority showed little attachment to the groupa finding consistent with previous studies (Prislin et al., 2000, 2002; Prislin and Christensen, 2002, 2005b). Prislin, R., and Crano, W. D. (2012). Juliet is in a committed romantic relationship with Romeo, but her parents have forbidden her to date him any longer. Rev. Vol. Pers. Indeed, it is part of the social psychology canon as evident by its coverage in nearly all social psychology textbooks, handbooks (e.g., Nemeth, 2012; Butera et al., 2017), and encyclopedias (e.g., Crano, 2010). doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.115.3.323, Wood, W., Pool, G. J., Leck, K., and Purvis, D. (1996). change. The confidence of a minority can also affect its ability to influence other members. Group Processes. Is Thought That Automatic Mimicry of Others Occurs Procedural mechanisms and jury behavior, in Applied Social Psychology. This socio-cognitive conflict may be resolved over time such that some majority members privately adopt the minority position. Charlan Nemeth, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, argues a further difference between minority and majority influence. The country broadened the definition of white people enough to maintain power over African Americans and Asian people (and later Hispanics). J. Soc. Tight cultures differ from loose cultures in that they. Research on group-decision making has elucidated the probability of any one faction prevailing as a function of types of decision tasks (Laughlin and Ellis, 1986), and shared cognitions and motivations (Brodbeck et al., 2007; Tindale et al., 2013), especially in the context of jury decision-making (Tindale et al., 2004), and organizational decision-making (De Dreu and West, 2001). Minority influence and climate change. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 97, 811822. doi: 10.1037/a0016169, Prislin, R., Limbert, W. M., and Bauer, E. (2000). Consistency in these findings about the reciprocity of social influence suggests that majorities are able to influence not only because they have social support as an argument, as it is axiomatically discussed in the social influence literature, but also because social support enables them to generate convincing arguments. Psychol. The dynamic nature of this process is additionally evident in its competitive nature as minorities and majorities contest each other while advancing their own position. The researchers found that when the confederate seated themselves, without guidance, at the head seat, other participants were more likely to agree with their suggestion of an amount of compensation than if they followed the experimenter's directions. As for the measures of the minority impact, the two frameworks paint a somewhat different picture: The Information processing (persuasion) framework suggests that the impact is most evident on private responses to indirect measures of attitudes toward issues tangentially related to the object of a minority advocacy (Wood et al., 1994; but see Glaser et al., 2015). Anyone can read what you share. Aust. To the extent that acceptance means a state of cognitive merging with a group (Baumeister and Leary, 1995), it cannot be satisfied through acquiescence, which implies affiliation, not integration, with others. Over time, however, successful minoritys initial tepid reactions should increase in positivity if their newly won majority position stabilizes within the group (Hypothesis 1, see below Agenda item 1). Similarly, reactions to social influence are typically assessed once at a single point in time. Soc. 67, 519. Personal. Psychol. And in subsequent decades, the United States admitted millions of Italians, Jews and other ethnicities, with their foreign languages, religions and complexions. There is no frontier anymore, but the grind of modern capitalism is just as stern a forge for fashioning American identity. In contrast, losing social support by virtue of social change (majority minority) should adversely affect a failed majoritys capacity to further advocate their position. Whereas these two motives for exerting social influence fit the classical dual-motive scheme for responding to social influence (Deutsch and Gerard, 1955), the third, social control motive has been largely neglected in the social influence literature. In contrast to these sources, those who were consistently rejected to remain in a minority, as well as those who lost social support to be turned from a majority to a minority (majority minority), lost much of their persuasive efficacy over time. All this testifies to the maturity of research on minority influence. They do so for a variety of reasons, which fuel their influence efforts and shape their influence strategies. What began as a minority view becomes a majority view as morepeople adopt it. Yet, no amount of normative or pragmatic pressure can extinguish minorities. Gordijn et al (2002) found that a minority was less influential when the number of members expressing an opinion remained constant or decreased, compared to when members perceived the minority to be increasing in numbers. Psychol. So a 51 percent pan-minority share is unlikely to yield any new majority status without a new pan-ethnic sense of community. Lateral attitude change. Understanding their motivations is in the core of psychological approaches to social action, with different models emphasizing a variety of motives that reflect groups moral, fairness, and identity standards. Minority Influence - Psychologist World J. Pers. Vol. Psychol. Systematic and nonsystematic processing of majority and minority persuasive communication. 6. Levine, J. M., and Prislin, R. (2013). Psychol. There is likely no better contemporary example of the power of minorities to instigate social change than a growing recognition of the urgent need for the humankind to address the cause and impacts of climate change. Minority influence, in Encyclopedia of Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. In his narrative histories published from 1885 to 1894, Roosevelt argued that as European immigrants were assimilated, their heritages were being absorbed into the American body, fusing Americans into a single people forged in the crucible of the frontier. Since majorities are often unconcerned about what minorities think about them, minority influence is thus rarely based on normative social influence. Social influence: The role of consensus in attitudes and attitude change, in The Handbook of Attitudes and Attitude change. Pers. R. M. Sorentino and E. T. Higgins (New York: Guilford Press), 2884. In a country whose history has been shaped by the boundaries among racial groups, this projected demographic shift is undoubtedly important. People who identify as white hold disproportionate power and resources today, and this pernicious reality seems unlikely to change even if white people do become a 49 percent plurality in about two decades. S. Moscovici, G. Mugny, and V. Avermaet (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press), 113138. To ensure that only unique empirical studies were counted, care was taken not to double-count studies that were published in journals and later summarized in book chapters or vice versa. Minority and majority influence in freely interacting groups: qualitative versus quantitative differences. Moscovici, S., and Faucheux, C. (1972). Group decision making under conditions of distributed knowledge: The information asymmetries model. Social influence, social identity, and ingroup leniency, in Group Consensus and Minority Influence: Implications for Innovation. Measure your stress levels with this 5-minute stress test. What kind of social influence can. Yet, answering some questions, including those about minority influence in generating social change, requires just such kind of research. Rev. 2, 5158. Being in a minority is a social condition, often characterized by adverse outcomes, tangible and intangible alike (for review, see Prislin and Christensen, 2005a). The field took notice. These are but some of the important questions that await answers. Jung, J., Bramson, A., Crano, W. D., Page, S. E., and Miller, J. H. (2021). Majority influence, for instance, is a normative influence, leading to individuals complying with the norms of the majority. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1437, David, B., and Turner, J. C. (1996). This phenomenon, known as social cryptomnesia, often occurs when a person held negative views of the minority whose views they adopted. In contrast, minority influence occurs To understand social change, it is necessary to study influence efforts as they occur over time, in dynamic exchanges between group factions, which seek to influence for various reasons. The leniency contract and persistence of majority and minority influence. Decision making, in Group Processes. Soc. Try the easy-to-remember FORM technique, A new study claims that appreciation of black humor is a sign of intelligence, Asch: Social Influence, Conforming in Groups. The challenge may be great but not insurmountable. Web-pooled knowledge -diverse perspectives -others can challenge us to think deeper and more creatively group decision making (disadvantages) -individuals have group goals besides Reflecting the broader social cognition orientation, this research has focused on cognitive responses to a minority (vs. majority) advocacy. Acad. This original momentum may subsequently garner greater support and even turn majorities into advocates for change who, in the process of social cryptomnesia, often forget its originators (Mugny and Prez, 1989). Overcoming the obstacles that moved minority influence research away from elucidating social change is a greater challenge. Minority sources persuasibility increased over time when their targets increasingly favorable reactions turned them into a majority (minority majority). Minorities have been pigeonholed, pathologized, stigmatized, and dismissed in a countless way (Moscovici, 1994, p. 239). 16, 4373. Comparative analyses from multiple lines of research have documented an asymmetry in distribution of tangible benefits (e.g., jobs, wealth) and intangible benefits (e.g., validation, status) favoring majorities over minorities. V. C. Ottati, R. S. Scott, J. Edwards, F. B. Bryant, L. Heath, and D. C. OConnell, et al. Polyphasic sleep patterns, daytime naps and their impact on performance. doi: 10.1177/1088868314546489, Gruenfeld, D. H. (1995). 15, 323355. Chen, X., and Kruglanski, A. W. (2009). J. Exp. Because gains are experienced less intensely than the comparable losses (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979), changes away from the minority position should elicit positive reactions that are weaker than negative reactions to changes away from the majority positions. 14. ed. How have norm-based approaches been used to curb binge drinking on college campuses? 35, 137149. What can a person's eyes tell you about what they are thinking? Learn to interpret the hidden meanings behind the themes of your dreams and nightmares. When a minority expressesa view that contradicts the majority, other group members will be unlikely to gain the acceptance of the wider group if they adopt this minority opinion. Self-organizing social systems: necessary and sufficient conditions for the emergence of consolidation, clustering, and continuing diversity, in Progress in Communication Science: Persuasion. (1955). If there are reasons for optimism, they include signs of an increasing theoretical and methodological diversity in our discipline. Soc. P. A. van Lange, E. T. Higgins, and A. W. Kruglanski (New York: Guilford Press), 181201. Midterm 3 study guide Flashcards | Chegg.com For example, minorities motivated to be socially validated and those motivated to gain social control are likely to pursue social change seeking converts to their position to transform themselves to a majority (minority majority). After the arrival of millions of Irish, the 15th Amendment enfranchised millions of African American men in 1870. Length of time it takes to effect social change may vary but social change is always a process of evolution. For example, in their analysis of minority influence in political decision-making groups, Levine and Kaarbo (2001) argued that influence strategies employed by political minorities may go beyond informational influence to include the reinforcement (i.e., reward, punishment) and procedural strategies (see also Smith and Diven, 2002). J. Soc. Psychol. An additional unique 33 empirical studies have been published since then and the end of December 2020, as identified searching the PsycInfo database, manually searching outlets in which earlier studies on minority influence appeared, and cross-reference checking.2 As evident in Figure 1, after a somewhat slow startor, one could say, a delayed impact of Moscovicis ideasthis research saw a steady increase in representation in scientific outlets, reaching its zenith in the 1990s, but gradually declining in the subsequent two decades.3. Nemeth, C. J. doi: 10.1080/14792779108401862. Critical thinkingis discouraged, with dissenters being ostracised by the majority. De Dreu, C. K. W., and West, M. A. What is it, and how does it work in each case? Regarding the social validation motive, minorities, of course, must have an initial sense of correctness in order to start exerting influence (Prislin and Christensen, 2009). Papastamou, S., Gardikiotis, A., and Prodromitis, G. she will become even more committed to Romeo. eds. Psychol. Provide examples. Consider various human rights groups in history and in the present (civil rights movement in the 60s, LGBT rights, women's voting rights, Black Lives Matter, etc.). Moscovici broke the spell, pointing out that the conceptualization runs afoul of a self-evident truth about the ever-changing world. According to reactance theory. eds. Smith, C. M., Tindale, R. S., and Dugoni, B. L. (1996). The findings suggest that the perceived confidence of a minority to make decisions independently of the group can lead to other individuals giving more consideration to its views. Minorities influence majority opinion primarily through. Moscovici, S. (1994). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. An important feature of this procedure is that participants actively experienced their social position within the interacting group. Maass et al (1982) found that, when a minority is seen as acting in its own self-interests or an individuals attempts at persuasion are perceived as being motivated by personal gain, other members are more likely to dismiss their opinions. So, it was not so equally balanced as it was again in Punjab and Bengal. Successful conversion of a sufficient number of group members to the minority position reverses positions (majority minority), representing a loss for the former majority and a gain for the former minority. Papastamou, S., and Mugny, G. (1985). Justin Gest (@_JustinGest) is an associate professor of policy and government at George Mason Universitys Schar School of Policy and Government. In 2015, the Census Bureau published a report projecting that by 2044, the United States white majority would become merely a white plurality: immigration and fertility trends would lead to Americas ethnic and racial minorities outnumbering its white population. (2001). (1989). Even though it promoted the rights of a minority of the population, the movement helped to end public segregation based on race with the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. (2000). He is the author of The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality and the forthcoming book Majority Minority.. But there also are examples of numerical, non-normative minorities who, while resisting influence from the majority, do not seek social change (e.g., Mennonites in several countries in North and South America). This unidirectional conceptualization postulated influence as flowing exclusively from a majority to a minority. The reasons for this development are complex. Prislin, R., and Wood, W. (2005). (1997). Psychol. 93, 2332. In contrast, studies of interacting groups tasked with reaching a consensual decision have frequently demonstrated publicly stated, direct changes in opinions toward focal issues of minority advocacy (Paicheler and Flath, 1988; Smith et al., 1996). Influence and its aftermath: Motives for agreement among minorities and majorities, in Coping with Minority Status: Responses to Exclusion and Inclusion. For example, at what point in time do minorities voice their non-normative opinions? Social identification, self-categorization and social influence. 5 Articles, This article is part of the Research Topic, Minorities Effect Social Change Over Time, Winning a Competition in Influence Exerted for Various Reasons, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.911654, Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States. Through a historical lens, being white in America today is like belonging to a once-exclusive social club that had to loosen its membership criteria to stay afloat. Sci. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). Latan, B. However, if a minority is thought to be acting selflessly and in the interests of the majority of the group, other members are more likely to consider and be influenced by the opinions it expresses. To what extent are people controlled by their roles in society? J. Pers. A look at common defense mechanisms we employ to protect the ego. M. B. In the subsequent decades, scores of studies have tested (Wood et al., 1994), expanded (Nemeth and Walacher, 1983; De Dreu and West, 2001), and challenged (Latan and Wolf, 1981; Tanford and Penrod, 1984) Moscovicis ideas. Erb, H-P., and Bohner, G. (2001). Mugny, G. (1982). doi: 10.1080/10463280440000071, Prislin, R., and Christensen, P. N. (2005b). Creative problem solving as a result of majority vs minority influence. The motives of a minority, as perceived by other individuals, can also affect the influence it is able to exert on the majority. Gordijn, E. H., de Vries, N. K. and de Dreu, C. K. W. (2002). Copping With Minority Status. The civil rights movement in the United States during the 1950s and 60s used minority influence to gain support for the equal rights of citizens, irrespective of race. Latan, B., and Nowak, A. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Finally, different motives may call for different types of social change. Only by incorporating a time perspective in our research can these variations be captured (Arrow et al., 2000). The complexity of these asymmetries suggests multiple specific motives behind minorities pursuit of social change. 28, 640647. Vol. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.68.1.5. Give three examples of how the media can shape our conception of social reality? ed. Inconsistency, or a difference of opinion amongst members of a minority, can result in other individuals rejecting the view. Participants were instructed to sit around a table to discuss the compensation amount, either in seats which were grouped, or in a solitary seat at the head of the table. Soc. It cannot be a goal in and of itself. eds. Terrorism as a tactic of minority influence, in Coping With Minority Status: Responses to Exclusion and Inclusion. Shared reality: How social verification makes the subjective objective, in Handbook of Motivation and Cognition. As a majority view gained the support of more members, individuals holding an opposite viewpoint were less able to influence the group. They consider the argument based on its merits, rather than to complywith group norms. This may be especially true for new majorities (former minorities) who earn their position through social change. 22, 177189. J. Pers. eds. Emily is in a good mood. This is not to say that any single influence strategy is associated with any particular single motive; however, the same strategy may be employed differently in service of different motives. Soc. C. K. de Dreu and N. K. de Vries (Oxford, UK: Blackwell), 91121. In the process, they influence and are influenced, adjust their influence strategies and responses, form and dissolve alliances. For decades, research on social influence, which established social psychology as a scientific discipline early in the 20th century, conceptualized influence as a one-way street (Prislin and Crano, 2012). Mackie, D. M. (1987). Vol. 83, 10951102. ________ is the first step in the foot-in-the-door As an illustration of the epistemic value of the time perspective approach to understanding the consequences of successful minority influence, and a test of the above-mentioned Hypothesis 1, consider a longitudinal study that examined reactions of a minority faction within a group who successfully converted a sufficient number of majority members to its position to effectively turn themselves into a new majority and ipso facto, the former majority into a new minority (Prislin and Christensen, 2005b, Study 2). Differential contributions of majority and minority influence. Moscovici, S., and Prez, J. Revels in Groups: Dissent, Deviance, Difference, and Defiance. L. Berkowitz (New York: Academic Press), 209239. Changement dattitude, influence minoritaire et courants sociaux [Attitude change, minority influence and social trends]. When a significant number of majority members publicly acknowledge their adoption of the minority position, a new norm is created, effectively turning the initial minority into the majority and vice versa. (2011). Why do people to conform in groups? Around the turn of the 20th century, American leaders began to recognize the accumulating effects of immigration and civil rights. 79, 385397. It encompasses attitudinal reactions (e.g., growing concerns about climate change), behavioral reactions (e.g., growing use of a clean energy), political impact (e.g., Green parties, which exist in most democratic systems, have entered into several coalition governments, taking premierships in some), and structural changes (e.g., laws mandating elimination of climate-damaging emission by a certain date have been passed in several countries).1. Paicheler, G., and Flath, E. (1988). Older generations may still be focused on century-old divisions, but younger Americans are starting to blur them. A. Kruglanski and W. Stroebe (New York: Psychology Press), 321339. In this instance, groupthink can lead to the factory becoming uncompetitive, whilstits competitors adopt more efficient practices. Even a cursory analysis of just about any social change reveals that it takes time to alter social relations and social structure within a group. If so, then prolonged experience in the new majority position should be reassuring, facilitating the new majoritys acceptance of the group as their own. Psychol. Soc. Soc. Baker, S. M., and Petty, R. E. (1994). Minority Influence: An Agenda for Study of Social Change (2009). Because of the earlier discussed asymmetry in reactions to losses and gains, the presumed intensely negative reactions of the former majorities, but only mildly positive reactions of the former minorities, should render the group weak immediately after experiencing social change via conversion. Dynamics of change: Minority influence makes the world go around, in Minority Influence and Innovation: Antecedents, Processes and Consequences. Political systems, scientific paradigms, religious dogmas, art movements, and fashion styles are all changed by active minorities who successfully challenge the status quo and offer an alternative (Moscovici and Faucheux, 1972; Moscovici, 1976). A minority group, led by Emmeline Pankhurst in the UK, eventually persuaded the majority that this was unfair, and enfranchisement was extended to women in 1918, overturning accepted views regarding womens rights. Am. Psychol. A., and Mugny, G. (1996). Leffet de cryptomnsie sociale [The social cryptomnesia effect]. This has been recognized in the literature on social movements or social actions as vehicles for effecting social change.
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