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Anticipated interaction and thought generation: The role of faction size
Author(s) -
Zdaniuk Bozena,
Levine John M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8309.1996.tb01092.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , cognition , position (finance) , affect (linguistics) , psychiatry , communication , finance , economics
Little attention has been given to how expected membership in a majority or minority faction affects the cognitive activity of prospective group members. In this study, subjects who expected to join a six‐person discussion group were led to believe that ( a ) the other five people in the group disagreed with their position, ( b ) one person agreed and four people disagreed, ( c ) two people agreed and three disagreed, ( d ) three people agreed and two disagreed or ( e ) four people agreed and one person disagreed. Prior to the discussion, subjects were asked to list their thoughts concerning the discussion topic. Results indicated that the smaller the subjects' faction (and the larger the opposing faction), the less biased subjects were in thinking about their own position. These findings shed new light on majority and minority influence and suggest that more attention should be devoted to the cognitive consequences of anticipated interaction in group settings.