ATTITUDE IMPORTANCE AND THE FALSE CONSENSUS EFFECT

Numerous studies have demonstrated that the attitudes people consider personally important have an enhanced impact on cognition and behavior . This article explores the possibility that importance may regulate t he magnitude of the false consensus effect as well. The authors report on six experiments that involved a variety of subject samples (colleg e students and the general population), data collection methods (telep hone interviewing and self-administered questionnaires), and political issues (e.g., abortion, gun control, defense spending). Meta-analyses summarizing the results of 12 tests revealed a strong false consensus effect but no reliable relation between its magnitude and attitude im portance. These results are inconsistent with the assumption that the false consensus effect is a result of attitudes directly or indirectly influencing perceptions of others, and they lend support to explanati ons of the false consensus effect that posit other mechanisms (i.e., a ttribution and object construal).