minority opinion influence in groups

[Janessa Hall]

Hello everyone,
After being inspired by Matthew's little Skinnerian ditty, I felt
conditioned to post a research topic.
I am interested in minority opinions/influences in groups.
(NOTE--I am referring here to minority in the sense that a person holds
a view inconsistent with group norms, not referring to ethnicity or
gender.) My question is this: does the prescence of two similar
minority opinions, one extreme and one more moderate, make the moderate
position seem more like the majority opinion? Or are both opinions
lumped into the extreme catagory? What other factors may influence how
these opinions are viewed? Does being a "double" minority
(e.g.--minority opinion, minority ethnicity) change the situation?
To illustrate exactly what I mean, I'm listing a rather
sociological example. Did Malcolm X help the cause of civil rights as a
whole by making persons like Dr. King look more moderate? Or did he
hurt the movement by creating an association between everyone struggling
for civil rights and the extreme of "any means necessary"?

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