Evaluating arguments during instigations of defence motivation and accuracy motivation

When people evaluate the strength of an argument, their motivations are likely to influence the evaluation. However, few studies have specifically investigated the influences of motivational factors on argument evaluation. This study examined the effects of defence and accuracy motivations on argument evaluation. According to the compatibility between the advocated positions of arguments and participants' prior beliefs and the objective strength of arguments, participants evaluated four types of arguments: compatible‐strong, compatible‐weak, incompatible‐strong, and incompatible‐weak arguments. Experiment 1 revealed that participants possessing a high defence motivation rated compatible‐weak arguments as stronger and incompatible‐strong ones as weaker than participants possessing a low defence motivation. However, the strength ratings between the high and low defence groups regarding both compatible‐strong and incompatible‐weak arguments were similar. Experiment 2 revealed that when participants possessed a high accuracy motivation, they rated compatible‐weak arguments as weaker and incompatible‐strong ones as stronger than when they possessed a low accuracy motivation. However, participants' ratings on both compatible‐strong and incompatible‐weak arguments were similar when comparing high and low accuracy conditions. The results suggest that defence and accuracy motivations are two major motives influencing argument evaluation. However, they primarily influence the evaluation results for compatible‐weak and incompatible‐strong arguments, but not for compatible‐strong and incompatible‐weak arguments.     

The effect of perceived financial vulnerability on prosocial activity

Our research examines the effect of subjective financial vulnerability on prosocial activity. First, data from the European Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement (SHARE) revealed that higher assessment of one's financial vulnerability might be associated with prosocial motivation for social activities. Next, we manipulated participants' perception of their relative financial position compared to their peers and found that participants randomly assigned to the low financial position condition were more willing to volunteer than participants assigned to the high financial position condition. In Study 3, we manipulated participants' financial advantage. Participants who were disadvantaged in the experimental settings were more willing to volunteer and donate to charity compared to participants with financial advantage. In our final study, we examined willingness to donate to in‐group and out‐group help organizations and found that individuals of lower perceived financial standing may be motivated by the goal of increasing the strength of the social group, rather than by expectations of direct reciprocity. We also found that emotional distress mediates the relationship between perceived financial vulnerability and prosocial behavior. In line with earlier research illustrating that lower financial status promotes prosociality on an interpersonal level, we demonstrate that even momentary perception of relative financial disadvantage and vulnerability promotes prosociality in the broader social context.     

Minority influence: The role of argument refutation of the majority position and social support for the minority position

This study was conducted to determine the impact of social support for the minority position and the minority's argument refutation of the majority viewpoint. The results indicated that both the minority's refutation of majority arguments and majority defection to the minority position enhanced minority influence. Subjects changed more toward the minority position when the minority could refute the majority position than when the minority could not; the more arguments the minority refuted, the greater was minority influence. In addition, minority influence was a positive function of the number of the majority members who deserted to the minority position.     

Minimal majorities and minorities

This study is one of a series of experiments designed to examine how sociostructural factors such as group numbers, power and status affect intergroup behaviour. Using a variant of Tajfel's ‘minimal group’ paradigm the present study investigated the intergroup behaviour of college students categorized as numerical minority, majority or ‘equal’ group members. The effects of salient (S) versus non-salient (S?) group categorizations were also examined. These manipulations yielded a 3 × 2 design matrix consisting of majority/equal/minority × salient (S)/non-salient (S?) group conditions. Unlike most previous studies using this paradigm, subjects' responses on Tajfel's point distribution matrices were supplemented with subjects' report of their own and outgroup's point distribution strategies. As expected, minimal group results were replicated in the ‘equal’ group (S?) condition such that mere categorization into ingroup/outgroup was sufficient to foster intergroup discrimination. However salient (S) equal group members were more fair than discriminatory in their responses. Minorities (S/S?) were generally less fair than equal groups, showed high levels of absolute ingroup favouritism (S?) while simultaneously attempting to establish positive distinctiveness from majorities. Though majorities were generally fair (S/S?), they also appeared to be more concerned than minorities about maintaining positive differentials between themselves and minorities. Although, majority (S/S?) and equal group (S?) members accurately reported their actual distribution strategies, minorities (S/S?) and equal (S) group members were not as accurate in their self reports. Overall the present results are consistent with hypotheses derived from Social Identity Theory. But the results also show that sociostructural variables such as group numbers can have an important impact on intergroup behaviours.     

When is a minority a minority? Active versus passive minority advocacy and social influence

Some conceptions of minority influence have stressed the impact of the mere existence of an unpopular, deviant position. Others (e.g. Moscovici, 1980 ) have emphasized the active opposition of a committed minority to a powerful majority. An active advocate is defined as one that is aware of the level of support for his/her position, expresses his/her position openly, and whose outcomes may depend on others' agreement/disagreement. In the present study, the potential moderating role of an advocates' active/passive status on opinion change was examined. When the issue was highly relevant to the target of influence, all that mattered was the quality of the source's arguments (i.e. majority≈ minority, active source = passive source). When the issue was not highly relevant to the target, though, active and passive sources had different impact: (1) active sources prompted attention to argument quality (for minorities) and heuristic compliance (for majorities); (2) passive sources prompted insensitivity to both the popularity of the position and to the quality of the source's arguments. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Majority versus minority influence: the role of message processing in determining resistance to counter‐persuasion

Two experiments examined the extent to which attitudes changed following majority and minority influence are resistant to counter‐persuasion. In both experiments participants' attitudes were measured after being exposed to two messages, delayed in time, which argued opposite positions (initial message and counter‐message). In the first experiment, attitudes following minority endorsement of the initial message were more resistant to a second counter‐message only when the initial message contained strong versus weak arguments. Attitudes changed following majority influence did not resist the second counter‐message and returned to their pre‐test level. Experiment 2 varied whether memory was warned (i.e., message recipients expected to recall the message) or not, to manipulate message processing. When memory was warned, which should increase message processing, attitudes changed following both majority and minority influence resisted the second counter‐message. The results support the view that minority influence instigates systematic processing of its arguments, leading to attitudes that resist counter‐persuasion. Attitudes formed following majority influence yield to counter‐persuasion unless there is a secondary task that encourages message processing. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examining differences in minority versus majority preschoolers on social categorization and perceived intergroup distance

We examined the differences between majority and minority children (i.e., group membership) on racial categorization and perceived cultural distance, among 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children, in low diversified schools. We used a spontaneous social categorization task using pictures of children from three different racial groups broadly represented in France (Europeans, Black‐, and North‐Africans), and an evaluation of the perceived cultural distance between participants' in‐group and the racial group represented in the picture, adapted to children and based on three factors (language, eating habits, and music). Results revealed an effect of age on racial categorization: the older the children, the more successful they are in this task. They showed a significant effect of the racial group represented in the photos on perceived cultural distance: members of minority groups (i.e., Black‐ and North‐Africans) were evaluated as more different compared to those of the majority group on each of the factors. Finally, we got an interaction between participants' in‐group and the racial group represented in the pictures, for the language factor: members of the majority group perceived as more different photographs representing minorities peers than those representing majority peers, while participants belonging to minority groups perceived no differences between photographs, according to the racial criteria.     

Children's and adults' reactions to magical and ordinary suggestion: Are suggestibility and magical thinking psychologically close relatives?

In Experiment 1, 6‐ and 9‐year‐old children and adults were asked to imagine various types of objects. The experimenter then attempted to change the image of those objects in participants' minds by either suggesting that the objects may change against the participants' will, or by asking participants to change the objects as a favor to the experimenter. Two types of suggestive causation were employed: Magical‐suggestion (a magic spell was cast with the aim of changing the imagined objects) and ordinary‐suggestion (participants were told that the objects in their minds could alter against their will). Ordinary‐suggestion was as effective as magical‐suggestion in changing the participants' imagined objects. For adults, a direct request for compliance produced a stronger effect than did magical suggestion. This effect was not found in children. In Experiment 2, the two types of suggestion were tested on an alternative type of imagined objects. Adult participants were asked to imagine their futures. It was then proposed that (a) a magic spell could be cast on their futures with the aim of changing them either for the worse or for the better (magical‐suggestion), or (b) changing a numerical pattern on a computer screen could change their futures (ordinary‐suggestion). All participants denied that changing a numerical pattern on a computer screen could affect their lives, yet in their actions they demonstrated an element of belief in this possibility. As in Experiment 1, in Experiment 2 ordinary suggestion was as effective as magical suggestion. The hypothesis of an historic contiguity between magical causality and ordinary suggestion is discussed.     

Gaining and losing social support: Momentum in decision-making groups

This paper addressed the question, is there a momentum effect in decision-making groups? That is, does movement toward a decision alternative encourage further similar movement? In the first two of three experiments, the movement of group members toward or away from a subject's preference was manipulated while holding constant the content of group discussion. The only significant effect of such shifts in position was an antimomentum effect; e.g., subjects were less likely to move toward an alternative which had gained a supporter than if no such shift in position had occurred. These experiments also demonstrated that the inverse relationship between overall level of support and likelihood of changing one's position (the “strength-in-numbers” effect) was not solely attributable to larger factions' ability to generate more arguments than smaller factions. In a final experiment, subjects were given an opportunity to defend their preference; under these conditions, the loss of a supporter might result in momentum-producing attributions (e.g., my arguments are unconvincing). However, these experimental conditions did not produce a momentum effect. Analyses of the content of subjects' speech paralleled the data on opinion change in these and previous studies—subjects were much more sensitive to current levels of support than to changes in the level of support. The antimomentum effect observed in Experiment 2 was attributed to a sensitivity to both one's current and past levels of support in the group.     

The effects of mental contamination on the hindsight bias: Source confusion determines success in disregarding knowledge

We present data from eight experiments in which we explored the effects of source confusion on the hindsight bias; participants' success in disregarding information when they were instructed to do so was affected by participants' level of source confusion. In Experiment 1 we demonstrated participants' failure to disregard Revolutionary War information they recently learned while reading an essay; this failure to discount was not affected by participants' essay reading times (Experiment 1a). In Experiment 2 participants successfully discounted obscure War of 1812 information; this discounted information remained available in memory (Experiment 2a). In a direct test of source confusion (Experiment 3) we showed that participants discriminated between presented and not‐presented War of 1812 information better than they discriminated presented and not‐presented Revolutionary War information. In Experiments 4 and 4a we tested and rejected a motivational explanation for our findings, namely that subjects voluntarily withheld information when asked to disregard it. We tested a debiasing technique in Experiment 5 and found it was successful in helping participants discount familiar information. Results throughout are discussed as being attributable to source confusion. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biased assimilation: the role of source position

Biased assimilation is the tendency to evaluate belief‐consistent information more positively than belief‐inconsistent information. Previous research has demonstrated that biased assimilation is due to an inconsistency between an argument and the recipient's position toward this argument. The present research revealed that an inconsistency between a source's position (independently of the argument) and the recipient's position is also responsible for biased assimilation. In two studies, participants evaluated arguments stated by a politician. Party affiliation of the politician was correctly labeled, incorrectly labeled, or not labeled. The politicians' arguments were evaluated more favorably by their respective voters when party affiliation was correctly labeled. This biased evaluation diminished when party affiliation was not labeled and even slightly reversed when party affiliation was incorrectly labeled. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of Interpersonal Goals on Inadvertent Intrapersonal Influence in Computer‐Mediated Communication

This research explores a sequence of effects pertaining to the influence of relational goals on online information seeking, the use of information and arguments as relational management strategies in computer‐mediated chat, and the intrapersonal attitude change resulting from these processes. Affinity versus disaffinity goals affected participants' information seeking for communicatory utility ( Atkin, 1972 ), their conversational behaviors, and their own attitudes toward the topic and partner. People with negative relational goals used the Web to seek information for discussions more than affinity‐goal participants. Individuals expressed affinity‐disaffinity through arguments, agreements, and disagreements with partners' preferences, which led to changes in their own attitudes. Findings suggest renewed consideration of the interplay between mass media and interpersonal sources accessible on the Internet.     

Minority versus majority influence and uncertainty orientation: processing persuasive messages on the basis of situational expectancies

The authors examined the effects of uncertainty orientation on processing persuasive messages from minority sources versus majority sources. The authors gave participants a proattitudinal or counterattitudinal message that either a numerical majority or a numerical minority endorsed and that contained strong or weak arguments. In support of the hypothesis that was related to message scrutiny, uncertainty-oriented individuals engaged in greater message scrutiny when the Source-Position (i.e., minority/majority-pro/con) pairing was imbalanced (in majority-con, minority-pro conditions) than when it was balanced (in majority-pro, minority-con conditions). Certainty-oriented participants showed the opposite pattern, scrutinizing the message more when the situation was balanced than when the situation was imbalanced. Support for the hypothesis that was related to nonsystematic processing was less clear because the majority appeared to have played a greater role in accounting for the aforementioned interaction than did the minority. Additional analyses supported this interpretation. However, in all cases, individual differences in uncertainty orientation moderated strength and direction of information processing.     

Should I believe this? Reality monitoring of accounts of self‐experienced and invented recent and distant autobiographical events

To examine personal and interpersonal reality monitoring, 240 participants wrote accounts of invented or self‐experienced autobiographical events. Half the participants wrote about a distant event that happened before the age of 15 and half wrote about a recent event that happened after the age of 15. Using a yoked design, participants rated the qualitative details of their own accounts and the details of other participants' accounts. Consistent with previous research, we found that self‐experienced accounts contained more qualitative details than invented accounts, and that accounts of recent events contained more qualitative details than accounts of distant events. Participants rated their own accounts as more qualitatively detailed than other participants' accounts, which suggests that they did not base their self‐ratings solely on the written details. We discuss the practical and theoretical importance of our findings. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who's Watching the Race? Racial Salience in Recruitment Advertising1

A recent finding (Thomas & Wise, 1999) suggested that the race of organizational representatives may be more important to minority applicants than to White applicants. Consequently, this study empirically examines the impact of race in recruitment advertising on applicant attraction. Participants (N= 194) were recruited in 3 field settings and were exposed to recruitment literature varying the race of a depicted organizational representative. Results indicate that Black and Hispanic participants were more attracted when minority representatives were depicted; White participants' reactions were unaffected by representative race. Moreover, the extent to which participants believed themselves to be similar to the representative fully mediated the effect for minority participants.     

Model's Race: A Peripheral Cue in Advertising Messages?

Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Social Categorization Theory, an experiment examined minority viewers' use of racial cues on exposure to product advertising. A total of 160 Black adults from a southeastern city rated a garment bag advertisement that featured either a White or a Black model and contained either strong or weak message arguments. Consistent with both theoretical notions, product and advertising evaluations were more favorable given a Black than a White model, but only for Black participants who identify strongly with Black culture. Blacks who identify weakly with Black culture evaluated the product and advertisement similarly given a White or a Black model. The results also showed that the Black model's race motivated Blacks, particularly those with strong racial attitudes, to process the message in a biased manner. In particular, the Black (versus White) model's race positively influenced the Black participants' thoughts about the product, which in turn yielded more favorable product evaluations. The findings suggest that Blacks appear to engage in biased processing (and not simple cue processing) when exposed to Black models in advertising messages.     

Upright and left out: Posture moderates the effects of social exclusion on mood and threats to basic needs

Adopting a powerful posture leads individuals to feel more confident and dominant. Social exclusion can strongly impact individuals' mood and basic social needs. The current research combines these bodies of research, investigating the effects of dominant and submissive poses on responses to social exclusion and inclusion. In two experiments, participants held a slouching or upright pose and were either socially included or excluded using the Cyberball social exclusion manipulation. Social exclusion only affected participants' mood when individuals took a powerful posture: Excluded participants in powerful postures had more negative mood after exclusion than included power‐posing participants, but effects of exclusion and inclusion did not differ among submissive‐posing participants (Experiments 1 and 2). Similarly, it was also found that social exclusion affected basic needs only when participants' adopted powerful poses (Experiment 2). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effects of Caffeine Consumption on Direct and Indirect Majority and Minority Influence

A study is reported that examines the effect of caffeine consumption on majority and minority influence. In a double blind procedure, 72 participants consumed an orange drink, which either contained caffeine (3.5mg per kilogram of body weight) or did not (placebo). After a 40-minute delay, participants read a counter-attitudinal message (antivoluntary euthanasia) endorsed by either a numerical majority or minority. Both direct (message issue, i.e., voluntary euthanasia) and indirect (message issue-related, i.e., abortion) change was assessed by attitude scales completed before and after exposure to the message. In the placebo condition, the findings replicated the predictions of Moscovici's (1980) conversion theory; namely, majorities leading to compliance (direct influence) and minorities leading to conversion (indirect influence). When participants had consumed caffeine, majorities not only led to more direct influence than in the placebo condition but also to indirect influence. Minorities, by contrast, had no impact on either level of influence. The results suggest that moderate levels of caffeine increase systematic processing of the message but the consequences of this vary for each source. When the source is a majority there was increased indirect influence while for a minority there was decreased indirect influence. The results show the need to understand how contextual factors can affect social influence processes.     

Increased conspiracy beliefs among ethnic and Muslim minorities

In the present study, we tested whether Muslim minority members are more susceptible to conspiracy theories than majority members in the Netherlands. We examined conspiracy theories that are relevant (portraying the Muslim community as victim or Jewish people as perpetrators) and irrelevant for participants' Muslim identity (about the 2007 financial crisis, and other theories such as that the moon landings were fake). Results revealed that Muslims believed both identity‐relevant and irrelevant conspiracy theories more strongly than non‐Muslims. These differences could not be attributed to the contents of Muslim faith: Ethnic minority status exerted similar effects independent of Muslim identity. Instead, evidence suggested that feelings of both personal and group‐based deprivation independently contribute to belief in conspiracy theories. We conclude that feelings of deprivation lead marginalized minority members to perceive the social and political system as rigged, stimulating belief in both identity‐relevant and irrelevant conspiracy theories.