| Abstract: | Studied the effect of social categorization, strength of influence and predisposition to influence on social influence concerning musical preferences. One-hundred and sixty-eight French adolescents (age 15 years) were assigned to the eight conditions of a 2 (social categorization: majority/minority) × 2 (strength of influence: strong/weak) × 2 (predisposition to influence: pervious/impervious) design. Influence source was an opinion poll based on pupils from two types of secondary school. Direct influence was exerted from ‘hard-rock’ to ‘new wave’ music; indirect influence was measured by subjects' preferences for hard-rock versus ‘contemporary’ music. Ratings of the source were also elicited. Analyses of variance revealed indirect influence to be significantly greater with the minority than the majority source (p < 0.02). Indirect influence was especially high for subjects with a clear predisposition to influence and when the influence was weak (p < 0.0005). Further analyses confirmed the effect to be due to the actual numbers of subjects influenced. The study thus demonstrated the generalizability of the ‘conversion’ notion (minority influence on an indirect level) from numerical to social minorities. |
