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Moscovici (1969) Criticisms

1) :-) This was one of the first studies into minority influence

2) :-( The study was endocentric, as only female participants were used, there has been research to suggest that women are more conformist that men and so these findings cannot be applied to males - low external validity

3) :-( The minority group was not a ‘real’ group, they were strangers taking part in an artificial task. In the outside world, minority groups are likely to be more committed to their cause, to face stronger opposition and are able to provide considerable social support for one another. Also the power/status relationships that exist in the outside world cannot be replicated in a lab.

4) :-( Clark et al has found that when the majority group size was bigger than 4, there was a huge drop in influence, this raises questions over the extent that the findings can be applied to all majority/minority situations.

5) :-( The study was culturally biased, as all participants were American, Smith and Bond (1998) have found that more individualistic (e.g. American, UK) cultures were less conformist that collectivistic cultures (e.g. African) so the findings cannot be universally applied.

6) :-( Participants were deceived in this study and so informed consent could not be gained, this raises ethical issues, however, as the deception was mild and undue stress to the participant was not cause, some think that the deception can be justified.

7) :-( The lab situation is artificial and some say that participants behaviour is also artificial in this setting. The task was also artificial like Asch’s (1951) was, it is unlikely that in real life people would disagree so often in an unambiguous task.

Also See

• Asch Criticisms
• Milgram Criticisms
• Moscovici Criticisms
• Obey/Resist
• Why yield?

Comments

These notes are for AQA A Level psychology PYA3.