Social influence processes of
control and change;
Conformity, obedience to authority and innovation
Robin Martin and Miles Hewstone
SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES OF CONTROL
AND CHANGE
1 Introduction to
Social Influence
Introduction to Social Psychology
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL
INFLUENCE
Social influence refers to the ways in which
the opinions and attitudes of one person
affect the opinions and attitudes of
another person.
Seen in social group context
Two forms of social influence
Social control (maintaining group norms)
Dominant form: Conformity or majority influence
Obedience to an authority figure
Social change (changing group norms)
Innovation or minority influence
Social control and social change refer to
motives of the source of influence (majority,
authority figure vs. minority) rather than the
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL
INFLUENCE
Definition of majority and minority
Number of people (majority = +50%; minority =
-50%)
Reference to normative positions (e.g. widely
accepted opinions and beliefs of society)
Power relationship between source and recipient
of influence (i.e. ability of the former to influence
the latter)
Majority is the numerically larger group who
hold the normative position and have power
over others.
Minority tend to be numerically small, hold
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL
INFLUENCE
Literature revolves around Moscovicis (1976)
distinction between the different ways in
which people resolve conflict arising from
majority influence (conformity) and minority
influence (innovation).
- Conformity is the process of resolution of
conflict by deviant group members changing
their opinion to that of the majority.
- Innovation refers to the process of the
minority using conflict to bring about
change.
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE
Martin and Hewstone (2001a) research on
majority and minority influence
- North America: ability of majorities to cause
individuals to conform or comply with its view.
- Europe: study of active minorities and how these
can influence the majority.
- Comparison of majority and minority influence
within the same research paradigm.
SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES OF CONTROL
AND CHANGE
2
Social Control:
Majority Influence,
Conformity And
Obedience
Introduction to Social Psychology
SOCIAL CONTROL: MAJORITY
INFLUENCE, CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE
Majority Influence and Conformity
The first studies into social influence
processes examined the conditions under
which an individual will yield or conform
to a numerical majority.
- Classic Asch line paradigm
- According to Festinger, there are pressures for
uniformity within groups to reach consensus,
particularly when there is an explicit group
goal. These pressures create a psychological
dependency of the individual upon the group.
- The majority is able to satisfy both these needs:
first, general belongingness to majority
SOCIAL CONTROL: MAJORITY
INFLUENCE, CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE
Majority Influence and Conformity
Two types of social influences underlying
conformity.
- Normative social influence: an influence to
conform with the positive expectations of others;
majority membership is desirable and avoids
group rejection
- Informational social influence: an influence to
accept information obtained from another as a
valid source evidence about reality.
SOCIAL CONTROL: MAJORITY
INFLUENCE, CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE
Obedience to Authority
The rationale for Stanley Milgrams research
was to examine whether people would
obey an authority person and commit
acts, which they believe can harm
another person.
- But why did people obey?
Binding factors between the participant and the
experimenter.
Participants could become so absorbed in the procedure
and the technical aspects of the study that they lost
sight of the implications of their actions (agentic state).
Powerful role relationship between participant (follower)
and experimenter (leader).
Obedience rates fell considerably when another
SOCIAL CONTROL: MAJORITY
INFLUENCE, CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE
Obedience to Authority
Research on obedience clearly shows that,
under specific circumstances, a person will
obey an authority person and conduct
behaviors they would not have hitherto
committed. The key to this process is the
power, and role expectations, associated
with the authority person which enables
him/her to control others and to make
them comply to his/her requests.
SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES OF CONTROL
AND CHANGE
3 Social Change:
Minority Influence
and Innovation
Introduction to Social Psychology
SOCIAL CHANGE: MINORITY INFLUENCE
AND INNOVATION
Minority Influences and Innovation
One of the features of research into conformity
was the predominant focus on the ability of the
majority to influence the individual, which
neglected whether the individual (or
minority) can influence the majority.
- In his book, Social influence and social change,
Serge Moscovici argued that minorities can, and
often do, create conflict because they challenge
the dominate majority view and in so doing offer
a new and different perspective.
- Behavioral style: . . . way in which the
behavior is organized and presented . . . to
provoke the acceptance or rejection of a
SOCIAL CHANGE: MINORITY INFLUENCE
AND INNOVATION
Minority Influences and Innovation
By being consistent the minority is visible in
the group and attracts, or even demands,
attention (Schachter, 1951). Response
consistency leads to attributions of certainty
and confidence, especially when the minority
is seen to reject publicly the majority position.
- Two types of conflict within members of the
majority: one cognitive (from an increase in
response diversity) and the other social (from the
threatened interpersonal relations).
SOCIAL CHANGE: MINORITY INFLUENCE
AND INNOVATION
Minority Influences and Innovation
The central thesis of Gabriel Mugnys work has
been to distinguish between behaviour
directed towards the majority norm and that
towards the population which the minority
wishes to influence.
- Two negotiating styles:
Rigid style: minority refuses to compromise on any
issue
Flexible style: minority is prepared to adapt to the
majority position and accept certain compromises
- A minority which uses a flexible style was
more likely to influence the majority than one
which used a rigid style.
SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES OF CONTROL
AND CHANGE
4 Theoretical
Approaches to Majority
and Minority Influence
Introduction to Social Psychology
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
According to Martin and Hewstone (2001a) a
more useful categorization is to consider
whether the models specify main effects (i.e.,
specific antecedents, processes and outcomes
exclusive to each source) or the models specify
contingency effects (i.e., antecedents,
processes and outcomes non-exclusive to each
source but dependent upon one, or more,
contingency factors).
Conversion theory Mathematical models
Convergent-divergent
- Main Objective consensus
Effect Models
theory approach
Self-categorization
- Contingency Effects theory
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Conversion Theory
Moscovici argues that all forms of influence,
whether from a majority or minority, result in
conflict and that individuals are motivated to
reduce that conflict.
- Comparison process (majority): what others say, so
as to fit in with their opinions or judgements
- Validation process (minority): examine ones own
responses, ones own judgments, in order to confirm and
validate themto see what the minority saw, to understand
what it understood.
- Rather than being an attribution account in the genetic
model (based upon perceptions derived for the sources
behavioral style), conversion theory relies more upon a
cognitive explanation (where influence results from the
degree of evaluation of the sources message).
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Conversion Theory
Major hypotheses arising from conversion
theory.
- Direction of attention hypothesis: majority
influence causes people to focus on the relationship
between themselves and the source of influence
while minority influence causes people to focus on
the content of the minority message.
- Content of thinking hypothesis: majority
influence leads to a superficial examination of the
majoritys argument while minority influence leads
to a detailed evaluation of the minoritys arguments.
- Differential influence hypothesis: majority
influence leads to more public/direct influence than
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Conversion Theory
Research has examined majority and minority
influence on a number of different response
dimensions.
- Time: influence measured immediately following
exposure to the source versus influence measured
latter in time.
- Specificity: influence is specific to the message
versus influence which goes beyond the message
and considers a wider set of issues - this dimension
is commonly referred to as direct and indirect
influence.
- Privacy: responses which are made in public
versus those that are made in private and
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Convergent-Divergent Theory
Charles Nemeth argues that people expect
to share the same attitude as the
majority and to differ from the minority
(false consensus heuristic), and therefore
learning that the majority has a different
position to themselves creates stress,
particularly if the recipient of influence is
physically present with the majority.
- Convergent thinking:convergence of attention,
thought, and the number of alternatives considered
- Divergent thinking: a greater consideration of
other alternatives, ones that were not proposed but
would not have been considered without the
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Convergent-Divergent Theory
Nemeth argues that minorities can lead to the
detection of new and better ideas and
solutions and in so doing can increase
creativity.
Some research has examined more directly the
types of thinking following majority and
minority influence.
- For example, minority influence leads to the use
of multiple strategies in solving problems while
majority influence leads individuals to focus on
the majority-endorsed strategy.
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Mathematical Models
These are explicit attempts to explain these
phenomena within a single process framework.
- Social Impact Theory: Latane and Wolf (1981)
claim that the level of social impact
experienced by the target of influence is
determined by three factors, strength (e.g.,
status), immediacy (e.g., physical closeness),
and number (i.e., how many people hold that
position). The greater the social impact, the
greater is the level of influence.
Better predictors of social influence than aspects of the
sources behavioral style.
Meta- analyses have confirmed that the observed
findings of various studies can be predicted from
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Mathematical Models
These are explicit attempts to explain these
phenomena within a single process framework.
- Social Impact Model: proposes a
mathematical relationship between source
size and influence although it proposes
different mathematical relationships governing
the amount of influence.
Martin and Hewstone (2001a) identified three
main concerns regarding these models.
- Little say of why an influence occurs
- Emphasis upon the role of source size
- Models do not consider the influence of the
source beyond the public or direct level, and
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Objective-Consensus Approach
In contrast to conversion theory, this approach
proposes that people are more likely to process
a majority than a minority message.
- Informational influence: majority view is valid
- False consensus heuristic: if the majority
breaks the consensus heuristic (e.g. has a
counter-attitudinal position) then this motivates
people to analyze the majority arguments in an
attempt to understand this discrepancy. Understa
Message nd
Unexpect
Surprise processin opinion
ed source
g differenc
e
Causal Process For Majority And Minority
Influences
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Conflict Elaboration Theory
To this extent the model is similar to
conversion theory, in proposing that
divergence from a source of influence causes
conflict (with the level of conflict proportional
to the divergence) and that the resulting
psychological processes arising from that
conflict depend on whether it originates from a
majority or minority source.
- Focuses on conflict elaboration: refers to the
way people give meaning to this divergence
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Conflict Elaboration Theory
This theory specifies a contingency approach the
nature of the conflict elaboration, and the types of
influence, depends on the nature of the task and the
source introducing the divergence.
- Relevance of making an error: if the task is objective
with a clearly correct response (with all other responses
being wrong)
- Socially anchoring: if the response defines the individual
within a particular group membership
Proposes hypotheses similar to those of Moscovici
and suggests that a majority source leads to minimal
processing of its message while a minority source can
lead to detailed consideration of its message
especially when social comparison processes are
weak.
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Context/Comparison Model
Two processes are important in determining
whether there is direct or indirect influence:
message elaboration and source
derogation.
- Weak or unvested attitudes: an ingroup
minority can be persuasive because it is
perceived by majority members as being
distinctive and this leads to message elaboration.
- Vested or central attitudes: targets of ingroup
minority influence are reluctant to be identified
with the minority position, yet there is a
reluctance to derogate other ingroup members.
Leniency contract: allows the target to elaborate upon the
ingroup minoritys message without source derogation, open-
THEORETICAL APPROACHES
TO MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE
Self-Categorization Theory
Proposed by John Turner and his colleagues,
this theory asserts that only those who are
similar to self (on dimensions relevant to
influence) can be the agents of influence.
This is because similar others provide
consensual validation for ones opinions while
dissimilar others do not.
- Does not claim that similar others always have
influence, as individuals may resist change by
recategorizing themselves.
- David and Turner (1996; 1999; 2001) suggest that
a minority will only have influence if it is defined
as a part of the targets ingroup and avoids being
SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES OF CONTROL
AND CHANGE
5
Contemporary
Developments and
Themes: The Cognitive
Response Era
Introduction to Social Psychology
CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENTS AND
THEMES: THE COGNITIVE RESPONSE ERA
The cognitive response approach focuses on how peoples
cognitions affect their acceptance (or rejection) of
persuasive arguments. The extent to which a message
encourages people to generate thoughts which are consistent
with that message determines whether they will be influenced by
it.
Attitude change is therefore linked to the extent to which
a message results in the generation of message-congruent
thoughts.
- Models of persuasion:
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Heuristic/Systematic Model (HSM)
Central-route persuasion (ELM) or systematic processing (HSM):
thinking carefully about persuasive arguments and other issue-related
information.
Attitudes may be changed by peripheral-route persuasion (ELM) or
heuristic processing (HSM): systematic processing is minimal, and
persuasion occurs due to some cue(s) in the persuasion environment (e.g.,
status of source) or use of simple heuristics (e.g., the majority is always
right).
CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENTS AND
THEMES: THE COGNITIVE RESPONSE ERA
Some recent research developments
- structural aspects of minority and minority
influence (e.g. size of the majority and minority)
social representation of majorities and minorities
- different levels of influence
cognitive implications of influence in terms of strategies
people adopt when being influenced, the reasons people
change their attitudes, etc.
- more applied research and situational awareness
of the effects of majority and minority influence.
- contemporary research is making many advances in
applying the findings of basic research to real-life
issues and/or to more ecologically valid
situations, including group interaction, real-life
minority movements, group decision making,
SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES OF CONTROL
AND CHANGE
6 Summary and
Concluding Remarks
Introduction to Social Psychology
Summary and Concluding Remarks
Social influence processes: control and maintain the
group norm (majority influence, obedience to
authority), and change the group norm (minority
influence).
Studies of majority influence were designed to
emphasize dependency (e.g., by implied or actual
majority present or surveillance) while research on
minority influence was designed to capture the
minoritys behavioural style (e.g., by manipulating
response repetition).
Majority and minority status are defined in purely
numerical terms and participants receive the same
(usually counter-attitudinal) message in order to allow
Summary and Concluding Remarks
It has been typical to group them into whether they
propose majority and minority influence are caused by
different processes or by the same one originally
termed dual process and single process models by
Maass and Clark (1983).
- First, we believe the methodological and theoretical status
between process and outcome is so obscured in this
research that it is often difficult to establish the integrity of
the causal process.
- Second, contemporary research suggests that no set of
outcomes is exclusively associated with each source and
that each can lead to similar levels and types of influence.
Welcome more research examining the causal
processes involved in majority and minority
influence.
- Regression procedures to conduct mediational analyses to
