Even under majority influence, great apes fail to copy novel actions

It remains unclear when and why the ability to copy actions evolved and also its uniqueness to humans. Thus far, a lack of valid evidence for spontaneous action copying by other apes supports the view that only humans spontaneously copy actions. However, wild apes have access to multiple demonstrators and have been demonstrated to be affected by majority influences, thus raising the possibility that ape action copying might require a majority ratio of demonstrators to observers. We tested for spontaneous ape action copying across all four non-human great ape species using a demonstrator majority. Nineteen captive mother-reared apes (across 4 species) were tested (Raage=9-52; Mage=18.63; ♀=14; ♂=5). All failed to copy the demonstrated actions, despite observing it in a majority influence condition. We conclude that culture in non-human great apes is more likely supported by variants of social learning which regulate frequencies, rather than forms, of observed behaviours.

The Self-Regulation of Conformity: Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions (MCII)

The self-regulation of conformity has received little attention in previous research. This is surprising because group majorities can exert social strong pressure on people, leading them to overlook the pursuit of their own goals. We investigated if self-regulation by mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) can reduce people’s tendency to conform and facilitate their own goal-pursuit despite deviant majority influence. In a computer-based logical reasoning task, we exposed participants to a conformity manipulation, where we presented bogus diagrams showing the supposedly correct answers of a majority ingroup. Compared to participants who were not given a self-regulation strategy (Studies 1, 2, and 4) or who were in an active control group (Study 3), MCII helped participants to self-regulate conforming behavior in trying to solve the task and to independently solve the logical reasoning task, as indicated by increases in correct answers in the task. The findings suggest that MCII is an effective strategy to regulate people’s tendency to conform and supports them to attain their goal despite deviant majority influence.

Basal Testosterone Renders Individuals More Receptive to Minority Positions

Social influence is an inevitable part of human social interaction. Although past research has demonstrated that testosterone has a key role in social interaction, no study has examined its role in social influence so far. Building on previous research showing that minority positions are perceived as risky options and that testosterone is positively associated with status seeking and risk-taking, we hypothesized that basal testosterone renders individuals more receptive to minority positions. In two studies, participants (total N = 250) read messages that were supported by either a numerical majority or minority. As hypothesized, individuals’ levels of basal testosterone were positively related to susceptibility to minority influence. In contrast, susceptibility to majority influence was unaffected by basal testosterone. Given the importance of minorities for innovation and change within societies, our results suggest that individuals with high levels of testosterone may play an important role as catalysts of social change.

Factional conflict in groups: How majorities and minorities relate to one another

Disagreement between numerically larger (majority) and smaller (minority) factions in groups is both common and consequential. For these reasons, there is a long tradition of social psychological interest in the causes and consequences of such disagreement. Early work focused on minority members’ movement toward the majority (majority influence) and majority members’ (negative) perceptions and evaluations of those who refused to move. Later work focused on similarities and differences between majority influence and its mirror opposite, minority influence, and on majority members’ (sometimes relatively positive) perceptions and evaluations of minority members. This paper summarizes current knowledge on these topics and suggests promising avenues for future research.

Minority Influence

The aim of the present chapter is to explain the processes through which minority points of view may, or may not, diffuse in society at large. The first section presents the rise in the 1970s of a new stream of research, that of minority influence, and summarizes early conceptions and the initial experimental works that allowed differentiating minority from majority influence. The second part reviews the subsequent criticism to early minority influence research, in particular as regards its differences from majority influence. The third section examines the various models that attempted to reconcile previous controversies, and it organizes the great diversity in results observed over the years in studies on majority and minority influence. The final section points to the liveliness of this area of investigation by reviewing some recent extensions and applications of minority influence research.