TY - JOUR
T1 - Group consensus in social influence
T2 - type of consensus information as a moderator of majority and minority influence
AU - Gardikiotis, Antonis
AU - Martin, Robin
AU - Hewstone, Miles
PY - 2005/9
Y1 - 2005/9
N2 - Three experiments investigated the effect of consensus information on majority and minority influence. Experiment 1 examined the effect of consensus expressed by descriptive adjectives (large vs. small) on social influence. A large source resulted in more influence than a small source, irrespective of source status (majority vs. minority). Experiment 2 showed that large sources affected attitudes heuristically, whereas only a small minority instigated systematic processing of the message. Experiment 3 manipulated the type of consensus information, either in terms of descriptive adjectives (large, small) or percentages (82%, 18%, 52%, 48%). When consensus was expressed in terms of descriptive adjectives, the findings of Experiments 1 and 2 were replicated (large sources were more influential than small sources), but when consensus was expressed in terms of percentages, the majority was more influential than the minority, irrespective of group consensus.
AB - Three experiments investigated the effect of consensus information on majority and minority influence. Experiment 1 examined the effect of consensus expressed by descriptive adjectives (large vs. small) on social influence. A large source resulted in more influence than a small source, irrespective of source status (majority vs. minority). Experiment 2 showed that large sources affected attitudes heuristically, whereas only a small minority instigated systematic processing of the message. Experiment 3 manipulated the type of consensus information, either in terms of descriptive adjectives (large, small) or percentages (82%, 18%, 52%, 48%). When consensus was expressed in terms of descriptive adjectives, the findings of Experiments 1 and 2 were replicated (large sources were more influential than small sources), but when consensus was expressed in terms of percentages, the majority was more influential than the minority, irrespective of group consensus.
KW - minority influence
KW - group consensus
UR - http://psp.sagepub.com/content/31/9/1163
U2 - 10.1177/0146167205277807
DO - 10.1177/0146167205277807
M3 - Article
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 31
SP - 1163
EP - 1174
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
IS - 9
ER -