USE OF GROUP VIEWS WHEN GIVING OPINIONS ABOUT UNKNOWN, GROUP-SALIENT,OR NEUTRAL ITEMS

Ninety-one university students and 86 nonstudents answered a questionn aire about their opinions on unknown, pro-student, and neutral items. The participants agreed with the presumed opinion of their own groups for unknown items and pro-student items, but not for neutral items. Th e fact that the participants used the (presumed) group opinion for unk nown items is consistent with Moscovici's (1984) proposal that social representations make the unfamiliar familiar acid that, lacking other grounds, people anchor their beliefs in the beliefs of similar others.