People we like and identify with can exert greater normative influence over us.
Thus persuasion is more likely when the source is seen as enjoying a good relationship
or good image with the target audience. This emphasizes the importance of good social
and communication skills among professionals involved in face-to-face health
promotion activities and of enhancing the brand value of organizations offering health
advice such as the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. We tend to like those
who offer us things of value, so people are more open to social influence from those
who have provided something for them. Therefore, reciprocation, through offering
services or products that are seen as valuable, may be a useful way of encouraging a
target group to listen to health-related advice. In addition, we value approval so
believing that those who are important to us approve of a particular course of action
(i.e. holding a positive subjective norm; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, see Chapter 7) is
likely to facilitate persuasion and affect motivation. Thus normative influence can be
strengthened by three key features of persuasive messages: positive relationships,
reciprocation and the approval of valued others.
Persuasion in groups
Both informational and normative influence act on people in groups but persuasion
in groups differs depending on whether it is persuasion by the majority (that is, more
than half the group), called conformity (Asch, 1952), or conversion to a minority view
or action. Majority influence or conformity is strengthened by consensus. A large and
consistent majority exerts considerable informational and normative influence. By
contrast, a minority challenges our usual assumptions and leads us to evaluate the
contrast between majority and minority views (Moscovici, 1976; Moscovici and Lage,
1976). Conversion to a minority view does not work through consensus influence and
is determined instead by how the minority act. If members of a minority group are
seen to be consistent, committed, confident and fair they prompt others to think
carefully about their alternative position. This systematic consideration and evaluation
of the minority view means that, when minorities are persuasive, the attitude change
that results from such conversion is likely to be longer-lasting and less subject to
counter-persuasion than attitude change due to conformity (Martin, Hewstone and
Martin, 2007).
Persuasion and influence in groups have important applied implications because
group discussions are regularly used by researchers and health services including the
UK NHS. Discussions in focus groups and so-called ‘citizen’s juries’ are regularly used
to discover what people want and the results are used to draw conclusions about public
opinion and popular policy development. One problem associated with this
methodology is that the way in which groups are managed and facilitated may affect
what people say. For example, the questions posed and choices offered shape responses.
Moreover, powerful majorities or confident and committed minorities may limit the
number of viewpoints considered through conformity and conversion. Are group
discussions the best way of sampling public opinion (see e.g. The Observer, Sunday 30
September 2007 for comment)?
174 MOTIVATION AND BEHAVIOUR