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On predicting minority influence
Author(s) -
Clark Russell D.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2420180605
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , minority group , polarization (electrochemistry) , value (mathematics) , ethnic group , political science , law , statistics , chemistry , mathematics
Paralleling closely an experiment on group polarization by Vinokur and Burnstein (1978), subjects discussed one of three risky, cautious, or neutral choice dilemmas. For each of the value items, one half of the six‐person groups consisted of a cautious minority and a risky majority; the other half consisted of a risky minority and a cautious majority. The minorities always consisted of trained confederates. The results indicated that on risky items minorities that argued for risk had more influence than minorities advocating caution; on neutral and cautious items the majority was not influenced by the minority whether it advocated the risky or cautious alternative.