Majority and Minority Influence

Majority Influence in Groups

A wealth of evidence about majority influence in groups suggests that majorities tend to dominate group decision making. “Majority” in this context refers to an opinion majority, not to a group that is dominant as a result of demographic or personal characteristics. In general, a group likely will carry out the will of the majority of its members, as indicated in the common saying “majority rules.”

Evidence indicates that a majority can influence a minority with respect to a judgment even when the majority's judgment is objectively wrong. In the classic studies conducted by Asch, groups were shown slides depicting lines of differing lengths. The groups were comprised entirely of the researcher's confederates, with the exception of one study subject. The confederates all provided inaccurate judgments about line length first, leaving the study subject to provide his response last. The subject's responses were generally consistent with the majority opinion, even though the subject could clearly see that the judgment provided by the majority was incorrect.

As illustrated in Asch's research, people have strong norms toward compliance with majority opinions in interacting groups. Group majorities are able to marshal resources to enforce compliance with majority-imposed rules and norms that minorities do not have available. Majorities can utilize approval and status as rewards for compliance. By the same token, the majority can also punish, in both obvious and subtle ways, deviant opinions and behavior. As an extreme measure, the majority can ostracize a member who persists in deviant behavior or opinions. If group membership is important to the member's social identity, compliance with the majority is the most likely result of group pressure.

The tendency to comply with majority opinion may become so strong that it leads to a group dysfunction that Irving L. Janis termed groupthink. Groupthink, as Janis defined it, is pressure toward unanimity within a decision-making group that is so strong that the group ignores evidence indicating that it has chosen a poor (or even disastrous) course of action. When the pressure for unanimity grows to this point, any dissenter is ostracized from the group, first by ignoring the warnings that the dissenter might provide and eventually by simply cutting off all communication with the dissenter. The removal of the dissenting opinion from the group ensures that the group will not be disturbed by the necessity of incorporating minority suggestions into its decisions. Unfortunately, because the group also isolates itself from feedback regarding the course of action taken, poor decisions cannot be recognized and corrected in time to avoid negative consequences. Groups suffering from groupthink also hold an illusion of invulnerability that prevents acknowledgment of failure, and, as a result, any individual willing to point out shortcomings is either brought into compliance with the group opinion or removed from the group.

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