The double negative effect: The (almost) paradoxical role of the individual self in minority and majority members' information processing

The authors examined the interactive influence of accessibility of the indi vidual self and relative in-group size on group-level as opposed to individ ual-level information processing. In Expt 1, the authors predicted and foun d that, when accessibility of the individual self was low, minority members tended more towards group-level information processing than did majority m embers. This was not true when accessibility of the individual self was hig h. Contrary to the authors' hypothesis, however, the disappearance of the m inority-majority effect in the high-accessibility condition did not result from a decrease in group-level information processing among minority member s, bur from an increase among majority members. Experiment 2 replicated thi s unexpected effect using two different measures of group-level information processing. It also provided additional data on the dynamic interplay of t he individual self and the collective self which seems to be responsible fo r the observed effects.