LEVEL OF INTERACTION AND RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE IN SUPPORTIVE AND CRITICAL MALE DISCUSSION GROUPS

The consequences of varying the amount of interaction, and the support ive or critical nature of information exchanged among group members, u pon reciprocal influence in a small-group, discrepancy-resolution task was investigated. One hundred ninety-nine American male college stude nts in 47 groups of three to five members provided agreement ratings f or 25 statements of current social interest, to identify a topic of di sagreement. The groups were allowed low, medium, or high levels of inf ormation exchange (interaction) regarding the disagreement topic. Crit ical and supportive atmospheres were induced in the medium- and high-i nteraction conditions. Analyses revealed opinion change and enhanced g roup perception ratings as a function of the amount of interaction all owed. The presence of a critical or supportive atmosphere did not infl uence opinion change or group evaluations. In terms of attribution the ory, requiring group members to generate bidirectional arguments on an issue strengthened the perception of consensus information while dimi nishing both the consistency and distinctiveness of the majority and m inority opinions.