SOCIAL-INFLUENCE AND THE VERIFIABILITY OF THE ISSUE UNDER DISCUSSION - ATTITUDINAL VERSUS OBJECTIVE ITEMS

Two experiments are reported comparing majority and minority influence on attitudinal (opinion) vs. objective (knowledge) tasks. The hypothe sis that minority influence would decline on objective items was teste d by exposing subjects either to a minority or majority influence sour ce; the quest ion under discussion was either objective ('from which c ountry does Italy import most of its raw oil?') or attitudinal ('from which country should Italy import most of its raw oil?'). Experiment 1 showed that, compared to a no-influence control group, majorities exe rted a reliable influence on both objective and attitudinal issues whe reas minorities were persuasive only on attitudinal issues. Experiment 2 indicated that this was true only for subjects who were uncertain o f their own position, while minorities were unable to convince highly certain subjects regardless of type of cask. Implications of these fin dings for the comparison of conformity and minority influence research are discussed.