Influência social minoritária: entre conformismo e conversão

Abstract

This dissertation is about the process of social influence caused by an ideological in-group minority through the behavior style of confrontation. The theoretical basis evaluated the development of the field of social influence, aiming to rescue the origins of minority influence and to analyze the pioneering studies of minority influence. Recent developments of the field were evaluated, as well as its narrow diffusion in the Brazilian context. Conjoined with social identity theory and the structural approach of social representations theory, a theoreticalconceptual model was proposed to evaluate the dynamics of confrontation in the field. Two experiments (N = 105 and N = 120) conducted virtually were reported, with the following main variables: status of the idea object of influence (peripheral vs. central), type of confrontation proposed by the ideological minority (informational vs. normative), and, in the second experiment, type of defense by the majority (self-defense or hetero-defense), as well as repeated measures of presentation of the attempt to influence (public vs. private) and, in the first experiment, the time of measuring the effect (immediate vs. delayed). The experiments had the following main results: (i) confrontation by an ideological minority produces influence by conformity in the form of compliance; (ii) influence by conformity occurs immediately but does not last over time; (iii) influence by conformity is suppressed if the majority responds to the confrontation in the interaction; and as secondary result: the source of influence employing confrontation is poorly evaluated and highly rejected. The adaptation of experiments to the virtual world is discussed and the operationalization of the first experiment is detailed. The general discussion compares the results of the two experiments and discusses the results of the dissertation evaluating its advances and limitations in relation to the field of minority influence. In the conclusion it returns to the concept of active minorities, in both its past origins and future projection in the literature, reflecting on the effects of confrontation as a strategy for ideological minorities who seek conversion by social influence.