Psychol. Yet, maturity appears to come at the expense of vigor. On the other hand, minorities motivated to be socially accepted need not necessarily seek converts to their position.5 Rather, they may pursue social change by advocating for tolerance. Tindale, R. S., Talbot, M., and Martinez, R. (2013). Itslike in the Milgramstudies in which people were less 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. And even if the Census Bureaus categories reinforce the racial boundaries that too often divide American society, these categories are also starting to show signs of their mutability. Demonstrability and social combination processes on mathematical intellective tasks. What explains the effectiveness of these approaches? Soc. For him, the new ethnicities admitted into the United States were not entitled to their American identity; it was to be earned. 35, 179199. Opin. Yet, a potential majority advocacy for change and, ipso facto, minority advocacy for the status quo (e.g., conservative minorities, see Levine and Kaarbo, 2001) is always an outgrowth of what at the start was a minority idea. Psychol. This socio-cognitive conflict may be resolved over time such that some majority members privately adopt the minority position. As a counterbalance to research on the informational value of minority advocacy, several lines of research have emphasized the role of social identity and the resultant normative pressures in determining reactions to minority influence, which reactions expand beyond attitudinal shifts to include group-categorization (e.g., Abrams and Hogg, 1990; David and Turner, 2001) and self-categorization (e.g., Wood et al., 1996). Differential Contributions of Majority and Minority Influence. Nemeth, C. J., and Walacher, J. WebThe study of minority influence has advanced considerably since the late 1960s when Moscovici's pioneering efforts brought the minority's role in the process of persuasion eds. Soc. Moscovici, S. (1994). Jury trials: psychology and law, in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 97, 811822. S. Papastamou, A. Gardikiotis, and G. Prodromitis (London: Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group), 173197. Hence, the proposed agenda focuses on time, interactive, and motivated influence as critical explanatory variables to address in the next phase of research on minority influence in the pursuit of social change. A rare empirical study of the dynamic nature of social influence focused on reciprocity of influence. Albert Bandura's influential Bobo doll experiments reveal how children imitate TV violence and the behavior of others. Psychol. doi: 10.1111/sipr.12072. As we are currently re-evaluating our standards of conduct in light of repeated replication failures, which some label a crisis, it may be an opportune time to re-evaluate the practice of taking publication productivity as a proxy for scientific contribution. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.93.1.23. But nevertheless, when you, when, when I look at the literature and when I see what the reasons the possible reasons for the since government maintaining very firm hand on law and order. 42, 2530. Older generations may still be focused on century-old divisions, but younger Americans are starting to blur them. she will become even more committed to Romeo. Psychol. doi: 10.1037/h0046408. Future Americans will identify with new communities. The many advantages associated with majority positions, along with the many disadvantages associated with minority positions (for reviews, see Prislin and Wood, 2005; Prislin and Christensen, 2005a), fuel minorities attempts at social change. Bull. doi: 10.1080/14792779108401862. Hewstone, M., and Martin, R. (2010). 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. Despite his susceptibility to eugenics and racial theories of supremacy, Roosevelt also offers us a way forward. Eur. Although these actions may include members of both minority groups who are typically disadvantaged and members of majority groups who are typically advantaged, it is almost invariably the former who initiate social actions. Although they are distinct compliance strategies, the "that's not all" and "door in the face" techniques share a common mechanism. 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. (2009). Soc. Psychol. Those who are non-normative and few originate every social change, seeking to alter the mechanisms within the social structure, including social relations and social organization. These are but some of the important questions that await answers. According to reactance theory. Minority influence: From groups to attitudes and back again, in Minority Influence and Innovation: Antecedents, Processes and Consequences. A study of normative and informational influences upon individual judgment, J. Abnorm. Soc. doi: 10.1037/amp0000844. Minoritys success at effecting social change and ipso facto, majoritys failure to prevent it, should influence not only their reactions toward the group but also their capacity to further argue their positions. ^A complete list of publications on minority influence referenced here is available from the author upon request. 14. ed. Bull. Rather, it has focused dominantly on the cognitive processes and attitudinal change in response to a minority advocacy or minority mere presence, and, to a lesser degree, to the role of minority influence in decision-making and task groups. 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. Social influence can take numerous forms. However, as pointed out by Levine and Tindale (2015), the overall findings suggest that in those rare circumstances when minorities do prevail, they tend do so through informational processes, by forcing a majority to question the validity of its position. WebContends that in most studies comparing majority and minority influence, there is an emphasis on influence in the sense of prevailing. Systematic and nonsystematic processing of majority and minority persuasive communication. Hardin, C. D., and Higgins, E. T. (1996). 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). The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication. 2, 5158. Maas, A., Clark, R. D. and Haberkorn, G. (1982). *Correspondence: Radmila Prislin, rprislin@sdsu.edu, New Advances in Social Influence: Theoretical Insights and Methodological Challenges, View all doi: 10.1177/0146167204271564. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.115.3.323, Wood, W., Pool, G. J., Leck, K., and Purvis, D. (1996). doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.71.6.1181, Keywords: minority influence, social change, social influence, majority influence, group dynamics, Citation: Prislin R (2022) Minority Influence: An Agenda for Study of Social Change. 16, 4373. In an experiment in which participants were asked to debate issues such as abortion, they found a negative correlation between the number of members holding a majority view and the sway held by minority views. Psychol. J. Pers. Wood, W., Lundgren, S., Ouellette, J. Curr. Minority influence occurs when a minority group impacts the majoritys A., and Mugny, G. (1996). Psychology approaches, theories and studies explained, Access 2,200+ insightful pages of psychology explanations & theories, Insights into the way we think and behave, Body Language & Dream Interpretation guides. Emily is in a good mood. An individual who associates the group with hippies and protests may find it difficult to identify with the group at the time, but over many years, the groups views become mainstream and the person becomes more environmentally conscientious. Minority influence theory, in Handbook of Theories in Social Psychology. The proposed agenda for future research on social change effected through minority influence is hardly comprehensive. Around the turn of the 20th century, American leaders began to recognize the accumulating effects of immigration and civil rights. Mugny, G., and Prez, J. 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). doi: 10.1177/0146167202288008, Prislin, R., and Christensen, P. N. (2002). When first introduced, Moscovicis idea about the power of minorities to instigate change was very much a minority idea. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.68.1.5. C. K. de Dreu and N. K. de Vries (Oxford, UK: Blackwell), 91121. 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). Copyright 2022 Prislin. On being influenced while trying to persuade: The feedback effect of persuasion outcomes to the persuader. J. Pers. 1. A person subjected to majority influence will try to gain the acceptance of a group by complying with its norms, but may retain their private views contravening those of the majority. Their simultaneous activation in simulated interactions ultimately yields a system settled into a pattern of overall convergence in social attitudes but importantly, with some clustering of factions holding minority positions (Latan and Nowak, 1997). L. Berkowitz (New York: Academic Press), 209239. (eds.) 14, 755766. Psychol. Social influence is the perpetual competition that shapes social relations by targeting social attitudes. Minority Influence on Focal and Related Attitudes: Change in Size, Attributions, and Information Processing. Creative problem solving as a result of majority vs minority influence. Vol. A) public compliance B) obedience to authority C) ideomotor action D) informational social influence Correct Answer: Access For Free Review Later Am. Over time, as members evaluate a minority view, they may internalize it - adopting it as their own opinion through a process known as conversion. Vol. Changement dattitude, influence minoritaire et courants sociaux [Attitude change, minority influence and social trends]. (1986). Jetten, J., and Hornsey, M. J. For example, at what point in time do minorities voice their non-normative opinions? Erb, H-P., and Bohner, G. (2001). 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. Nemeth, C. J. These hypotheses were tested in a program of research whose multiple studies employed the following procedure: Each study included an experimental creation of opinion-based minority and majority factions within a group. In contrast, minority influence occurs Their generative power is additionally evident in several edited volumes on minorities as bona fide influence agents (Butera and Levine, 2009; Martin and Hewstone, 2010; Jetten and Hornsey, 2011; Papastamou et al., 2017). To orient research toward social change, a research agenda is presented, along with a few illustrative studies. 93, 2332. Cultural drift, indirect minority influence, network structure, and their impacts on cultural change and diversity. (1991). Whereas any classification of motives is unavoidably imperfect, three broad motives are readily identifiable from the previously mentioned analysis of minority and majority positions (Prislin and Christensen, 2005a; Prislin and Wood, 2005): Social validation or a sense of correctness, social acceptance or a sense of belonging, and social control or access to tangible benefits (e.g., resources, power). S. Harkins, K. D. Williams, and J. M. Burger (New York: Oxford University Press), 317337. 17, 475482. J. Soc. c. public compliance. (1998). And there is precious little evidence of real solidarity among Americas diverse minority ethnic groups. Yet, the minority seems to be prevailing, giving credence to Mahatma Gandhis saying that fist they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Though far from the final win, this evolving minority-inspired social change is real and multifaceted, at least in the developed world. The effects of this social change on the new majoritys reactions toward the group in which they prevailed were assessed immediately after the change, and one-, two-, three-, four- and five-weeks after the change. Nemeth and Wachtler (1974) conducted an experiment in which a group of participants (including a confederate) were asked to decide the amount of compensation that ought to be awarded to a person who had been injured. Vol. From majority to minority and vice versa: The asymmetrical effects of losing and gaining majority position within a group. Group Processes. Unlike majority influence, minority influence can rarely (1981). Similar asymmetry but in the opposite direction has been documented in distribution of social burdens (e.g., illnesses, crime), which are heavier on minorities than majorities. What the Majority Minority Shift Really Means for America, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/opinion/us-census-majority-minority.html, Joseph Prezioso/Agence France-Presse Getty Images. 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. Contact Us doi: 10.2307/20159311, Butera, F., Batruch, A., Autin, F., Mugny, G., Quiamzade, A., and Pulfrey, C. (2021). Social influence, conformity bias, and the study of active minorities, in Advances in Experimental social Psychology. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.53.1.41. His masterful analysis of change in practically every domain of human activity invariably diagnosed minority influence in its origin. change. 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. These patterns of socially regulated persuasiveness were documented by coding video-taped sources verbal advocacy (Study 1) and by coding their written advocacy as well as an independent audiences reactions to their written advocacy (Study 2). In other words, the outcomes of social influence attempts aimed at effecting versus preventing social change should have reciprocal effects on the sources of social influence (Hypothesis 2, see below Agenda item 2). This state of affairs is rather paradoxical given Moscovicis original theorizing and ultimately, most minorities goals. A study of minorities as victims. Moscovicis initial theorizing makes it clear that changing an individuals mind is, at most, a potential intermediatory step toward social change. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.88.5.438, Laughlin, P. R., and Ellis, A. L. (1986). Small Groups as Complex Systems: Formation, Coordination, Development, and Adaptation. (2007). Vol. eds. The status quo in these arenas is first broken by the rebellious few. Social influence, social identity, and ingroup leniency, in Group Consensus and Minority Influence: Implications for Innovation. It cannot be a goal in and of itself. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.83.5.1095, Prislin, R., and Christensen, P. N. (2005a). M. P. Zanna (New York: Elsevier), 237326. Mackie, D. M. (1987). eds. It remained consistently high over time. Day 64 of '75 Days of Partition' - Partition's impacts on - Facebook have strong norms about how people should behave. eds. (1996). One of the reasons that minority influence takes hold is because it goes beyond superficial thinking. Differential contributions of majority and minority influence. Majority influence, for instance, is a normative influence, leading to individuals complying with the norms of the majority. J. Exp. 6. Hence, changes away from the preferred majority position presumably are experienced as losses, with changes away from the minority position presumably experienced as gains. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. Bull. Espousing a behavioral style characterized by temporal consistency, internal consensus, and autonomy and investment in their position, even at the price of reprisals, minorities present a force to be reconed with. Today, of course, being Irish is a social boundary mostly reduced to the front of Urban Outfitters T-shirts. E. H. Witte and J. H. Davis (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum), 191210. 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. In spite of a remarkable scientific output, research on minority influence has not addressed its original question about social change. Only by incorporating a time perspective in our research can these variations be captured (Arrow et al., 2000). Moscovici, S. (1976). 37, 725746. Although they effectively changed their numerical position, the new majority phenomenologically reacted as if they still had been in a minority, reluctant to make a salto mortale into the unknown of the new position (Moscovici, October 31 2008, personal correspondence). 2. Soc. Minority sources persuasibility increased over time when their targets increasingly favorable reactions turned them into a majority (minority majority). To what extent are people controlled by their roles in society? Econometrica 47, 263291. The effects of differential ascribed category membership and norms of minority influence. Shared reality: How social verification makes the subjective objective, in Handbook of Motivation and Cognition. eds. J. M. Levine (New York: Psychology Press), 135163. Group decision making under conditions of distributed knowledge: The information asymmetries model. Issues Policy Rev. The latter is simply too costly for a frequent-publication dictum (see Levine and Kaarbo, 2001). They may even besuspicious of a new manager who suggests that they update their manufacturing methods. WebJenna_Cuthbertson Terms in this set (10) Minorities influence majority opinion primarily through informational social influence. 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. J. Soc. As a majority view gained the support of more members, individuals holding an opposite viewpoint were less able to influence the group. Mugny, G. (1982). Length of time it takes to effect social change may vary but social change is always a process of evolution. This study examined reactions to minority and majority positions that were either stable or reversed through group conversion that transformed opponents doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.02.005, Brewer, M. B. Specifically, a minority faction was created by having most confederates oppose the participants stance on one or more socially important issues; conversely, a majority faction was created by having most confederates support the participants stances. A minority opinion is also termed dissenting doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.86.6.1191, De Groeve, B., and Rosenfeld, D. L. (2022). What can a person's eyes tell you about what they are thinking? Rather, it signifies their under-representation in the mainstream (i.e., information-processing) considerations of minority influence.