Majority Responses to Opinion Deviates

Abstract

Using Moscovici 's model of social influence, this study views social influence as rooted in conflict and seeks to identify and examine the communicative behavior of the group's majority as they react to the arguments of an opinion deviate who argues against the prevailing majority view. Majority responses are examined in light of the deviate's gender, as well as changes in her or his substantive and linguistic communicative behavior. The study's results reveal that the opinion deviates exerted little influence, regardless of their gender or communicative behavior. In general, the majority 's deviate-directed verbalizations were characterized by cooperativeness, emotionality, and opinionatedness. Unlike the influence ratings, however, these content characteristics varied significantly, depending on the deviate's gender and his or her use of evidence and qualifying expressions. The deviates' inability to influence the majority may have been influenced by the particular discussion topic used in the investigation.