2020 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 61-73
The purpose of this study was to examine the attitude changes that arose after individuals were exposed to a text-based discussion, based on the theories of group polarization. Two variables were manipulated: whether the participant had group membership during the discussion (whether they had the discussion with ingroup members or anonymous people), and the popularity of the participant’s opinion among the other group members (majority versus minority opinion). The effects of group membership and of being outnumbered with regard to one’s opinion on attitude changes were examined using Bayesian ANOVA. The experiment was conducted twice, and only the data obtained from the 68 participants who participated in both experiments were used in the analysis. The results indicated that when a participant’s opinion was in the minority during the discussion, their attitude was weakened. When a participant’s opinion was in the majority, and the discussion was held with anonymous people, their attitude was strengthened. These results suggest that when individuals were exposed to a text-based discussion attitude changes arose in a manner that was similar to the group polarization phenomenon.
