Group Consensus,Action Immediacy,and Opinion Confidence

Abstract

This study examined the hypothesis derived from the theory of opinion dynamics (Gerard & Orive, 1987), which predicts that group-consensus information will bolster confidence in one's opinion only when there are high situational pressures to act on that opinion. A 2 X 2 design that cross-cut two levels of action immediacy (high vs. low) and two levels of group agreement (consensus vs. no consensus) was used. Subjects were led to believe they would have to write an essay supporting their opinion on a legal case either relatively soon (high immediacy) or much later (low immediacy). Additionally, hay of the subjects were told there was group agreement for their opinion and half were told there was not. As predicted, results show that opinion confidence was highest when subjects believed there was consensus for their opinion and they had to act relatively soon.

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