This private conversion may cautiously be communicated to others, thus, gradually becoming public. In a test of the above-mentioned hypothesis 2, variations in minority and majority sources persuasibility were examined as a function of their targets responsiveness to their influence appeals (Prislin et al., 2011). (2009). Opin. This change in private opinion prompts a shift in behavior, and a member may promote his or her newly-acquiredview to other members of the group. From majority to minority and vice versa: The asymmetrical effects of losing and gaining majority position within a group. (1990). L. Berkowitz (New York: Academic Press), 209239. Is there a purpose behind our dreams and nightmares? Vol. eds. eds. The effects of differential ascribed category membership and norms of minority influence. Around the turn of the 20th century, American leaders began to recognize the accumulating effects of immigration and civil rights. Psychol. For example, the dynamic social impact model posits the strength, immediacy, and the number of sources of influence as three critical factors (Latan, 1996). They map on the reasons discussed earlier for strapping minority influence research in the Procrustean bed of the cognitive processing approach, which, along with serious logistic challenges, effectively eliminated time as a variable in this line of research. Psychol. Levine, J. M., and Kaarbo, J. The resultant increase, however mild, in positive reactions among minorities and continuing positive reactions among majorities should render the group changed via tolerance stronger than its counterpart changed via conversion (Hypothesis 3, see Agenda item 3). Vol. How have norm-based approaches been used to curb binge drinking on college campuses? 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. The status quo in these arenas is first broken by the rebellious few. Contact Us All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. The rise of research on minority influence coincided with the cognitive orientation in social psychology. (1979). Leading figures within the movement, such as Emmeline Pankhurst, founded the Womens Social and Political Union (WSPU) to change the majority-held views onthe role of women in society. WebMAJORITY If the minority can get a few people to defect to their side, then this will often create a snowball effect in which more and more people will change their opinion. eds. 1. eds. Personal. Acad. doi: 10.1177/1088868314546489, Gruenfeld, D. H. (1995). Others followed suit, accumulating findings that cast doubt on the conversion theory postulate about the unique nature of minority (vs. majority) influence processes (for a meta-analytical synthesis, see Wood et al., 1994; see also Erb and Bohner, 2001; Martin and Hewstone, 2008). In government, lobbyists representing a minority such as a company, charity or trade body seek to influence the views of legislators by publishing research which supports the interests of that minority. All this testifies to the maturity of research on minority influence. 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. Creative problem-solving as a result of majority vs. minority influence. Also, the authors own line of research on group dynamics in the aftermath of social change could be added to this minority category in that its focus on group dynamics is underrepresented in minority influence research (Prislin, 2010; Prislin et al., 2017). 21.4: Majority Influence- Conforming To The Group How can the colors around us affect our mood? 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). Kahneman, D., and Tversky, A. What explains the effectiveness of these approaches? ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Conformity OBJ: 9.2D MSC: Remembering Polyphasic sleep patterns, daytime naps and their impact on performance. J. Soc. From 1845 to 1854, an influx of Irish people arrived on the East Coast that outnumbered immigrants from all other countries since 1776 combined. Moscovici broke the spell, pointing out that the conceptualization runs afoul of a self-evident truth about the ever-changing world. 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. Our history shows that Americas demographic boundaries evolve with the countrys composition. 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. (eds.) R. M. Sorentino and E. T. Higgins (New York: Guilford Press), 2884. C. K. de Dreu and N. K. de Vries (Oxford, UK: Blackwell), 122159. Issues 74, 112128. Psychol. Minority and majority influence in freely interacting groups: qualitative versus quantitative differences. 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. For example, the exhaustively studied informational influence strategy has been limited to message-based appeals whose goal is to change understanding of an issue through evaluation of message content. Soc. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Psychol. Psychol. 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). Social influence is the perpetual competition that shapes social relations by targeting social attitudes. Psychol. WebMajority influence occurs when people conform to certain beliefs and behaviours in order to be accepted by others. Moscovici, S., and Faucheux, C. (1972). Despite his susceptibility to 88, 438453. Abrams, D., and Hogg, M. A. Curr. eds. Strength from weakness: The fate of opinion minorities in spatially distributed groups, in Understanding Group Behavior. 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. The truth is, just as populations in the United States ebb and flow, the salience of racial and ethnic identities emerges and disappears. 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. One of the reasons that minority influence takes hold is because it goes beyond superficial thinking. This path to social change alters positions within a group but preserves the notion of a dominant position within the group. Such support transforms what initially is typically construed as a minoritys subjective proposition into an objectively correct position synonymous with reality (Hardin and Higgins, 1996; Echterhoff and Higgins, 2017). 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. 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. 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. Even a revolutionary change progresses to its culminating tipping point after a period of build-up that requires time. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.93.1.23. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. Maas, A., Clark, R. D. and Haberkorn, G. (1982). 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). As nothing stands still, any groups position is only temporary. Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment revealed how social roles can influence How Theodor Adorno's F-scale aimed to identify fascism and authoritarian How false memories are created and can affect our ability to recall events. The longer the new majority spent secure in its new position, the more similar they perceived themselves to the group and the more attractive they found the group. 15, 323355. E. H. Witte and J. H. Davis (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum), 191210. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. J. Self-definition, defensive processing, and influence: The normative impact of majority and minority groups. This state of affairs is unfortunate as time variable is of essence in understanding how minorities go about effecting social change. 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. When accompanied with a sense of group efficacy, they fuel social actions aimed as social change that will improve minority (disadvantaged) groups conditions (for review, see van Zomeren, 2015, see also Klandermans, 1997). Soc. eds. Home Vol. It is possible that we are now in the process of similarly altering our conception of whiteness again. Itslike in the Milgramstudies in which people were less It has been addressed by restricting a number of factors that presumably shape the dynamics of social influence and employing mathematical simulations to test proposed models. They have been conducted within the framework of the gain-loss asymmetry model of change in minority and majority positions (Prislin and Christensen, 2005a). Psychol. Such broader acceptance presumably has survival value (Caporael and Baron, 1997). 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. Thus, immediately in the aftermath of social change whereby minorities become majorities and vice versa (minority majority), the former should react only mildly positively, and the latter should react intensely negatively, toward the group in which they switched positions.
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