The latent effect of cogency in the minority influence process

Abstract

This study investigated the mechanisms by which a minority's consistent behavioral style affected influence. To examine these mechanisms,, this study manipulated involvement and message cogency and obtained a number of process measures of the extent of message scrutiny. It was expected that a consistent behavioral style would function much like involvement. High levels of each would increase message scrutiny, and recipients should carefully process the message and discriminate weak from cogent arguments; more opinion change should be found with cogent rather than weak messages. Furthermore, minority influence should be found on private direct and indirect (latent) measures but not public (manifest) measures. Groups consisted of two naive subjects and one confederate of the same sex who were assigned to an Involvement (high vs. low) X Behavioral Style (consistent vs. inconsistent) by Argument Cogency (cogent vs. weak) condition. One hundred thirty-six (68 male and 68 female) introductory psychology students participated, in same sex groups, as part of course requirement. Subjects were told that they would be participating in a project that concerned how students view certain solutions to University-related problems, and were asked to give their opinions, and reasons for their opinions, on various proposals. Direct tests of the hypotheses could not be tested because manipulations of consistency and involvement were not powerful enough. on direct influence,, inconsistent minorities caused a boomerang effect, and consistent minorities had no effect. However, argument cogency affected subjects' thoughts about the communicator and message, and subjects' facial reactions to the source. Subjects' listed more positive thoughts about the source and the message, and emitted more positive than negative affective responses, when they heard cogent rather than weak arguments. The thought listings, and facial affect, are viewed as process-oriented measures of agreement with the source and provide a new means of measuring a type of indirect influence. This study provides us with a promising new approach to explore the latent (indirect) effects of an influential minority source via these process oriented measures.