Drawing on distinctiveness and social identity theories, the present studies tested whether minority opinion holders would have a more clearly defined sense of self than majority opinion holders. In Study 1, participants who were induced to believe that they held a minority opinion on a controversial issue had higher subsequent self-concept clarity scores than did those who were induced to believe that they held a majority opinion, controlling for self-esteem. Furthermore, the relationship between minority opinion status and self-concept clarity was strongest among participants whose opinions were highly expressive of their values (Studies 2 and 3), as well as among participants who identified strongly with the group in which they were a minority (Study 3). Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.
Abrams, D., Wetherell, M., Cochrane, S., Hogg, M.A., & Turner, J.C. ( 1990). Knowing what to think by knowing who you are: Self-categorization and the nature of norm formation, conformity and group polarization. British Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 97-119.
2.
Aiken, L.S., & West, S.G. ( 1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions . Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
3.
Appiah, O. ( 2002). Black and White viewers’ perception and recall of occupational characters on television. Journal of Communication , 52, 776-793.
4.
Appiah, O. ( 2004). Effects of ethnic identification on Web browsers’ attitude toward and navigational patterns on race-targeted sites. Communication Research, 31, 312-337.
5.
Bassili, J.N. ( 2003). The minority slowness effect: Subtle inhibitions in the expression of views not shared by others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 261-276.
6.
Breakwell, G.M. ( 1986). Coping with threatened identities. New York: Methuen.
7.
Breakwell, G.M. ( 1987). Identity. In H. Beloff & A. Coleman (Eds.), Psychology survey 6 (pp. 94-114). Leicester, UK: British Psychological Society.
8.
Brewer, M.B. ( 1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482.
9.
Campbell, J.D. ( 1990). Self-esteem and clarity of the self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 538-549.
10.
Campbell, J.D., Trapnell, P.D., Heine, S.J., Katz, I.M., Lavallee, L.F., & Lehman, D.R. ( 1996). Self-concept clarity: Measurement, personality correlates, and cultural boundaries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 141-156.
11.
Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S.G., & Aiken, L.S. ( 2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
12.
Domke, D., Shah, D.V., & Wackman, D.B. ( 1998). Media priming effects: Accessibility, association, and activation. International Journal of Public Opinion Research , 10, 51-74.
13.
Dozier, J.B., & Miceli, M.P. ( 1985). Potential predictors of whistle-blowing: A prosocial behavior perspective. Academy of Management Review, 10, 823-836.
14.
Glynn, C.J., Hayes, A.F., & Shanahan, J. ( 1997). Perceived support for one’s opinions and willingness to speak out: A meta-analysis of survey studies on the "spiral of silence."Public Opinion Quarterly, 61, 452-463.
15.
Herek, G.M. ( 1987). Can functions be measured? A new perspective on the functional approach to attitudes. Social Psychology Quarterly, 50, 285-303.
16.
Ho, S.S., & McLeod, D.M. (2008). Social-psychological influences on opinion expression in face-to-face and computer-mediated communication . Communication Research, 35, 190-207.
17.
Hogg, M.A. ( 2000). Subjective uncertainty reduction through self-categorization: A motivational theory of social identity processes. European Review of Social Psychology, 11, 223-255.
18.
Hornsey, M.J., & Jetten, J. ( 2004). The individual within the group: Balancing the need to belong with the need to be different. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 248-264.
19.
Hornsey, M.J., Majkut, L., Terry, D.J., & McKimmie, B.M. (2003). On being loud and proud: Non-conformity and counter-conformity to group norms. British Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 319-335.
20.
Janis, I.L. ( 1982). Groupthink: Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin .
21.
Jetten, J., Postmes, T., & McAuliffe, B.J. (2002). "We’re all individuals": Group norms of individualism and collectivism, levels of identification and identity threat. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 189-207.
22.
Jetten, J., Spears, R., & Manstead, A. ( 1997). Distinctiveness threat and prototypicality: Combined effects on intergroup discrimination and collective self-esteem. European Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 635-657.
23.
Katz, D. ( 1960). A functional approach to the study of attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24, 163-204.
24.
Lasorsa, D.L. ( 1991). Political outspokenness: Factors working against the spiral of silence. Journalism Quarterly, 68, 131-140.
25.
Levine, J.M. ( 1989). Reactions to opinion deviance in small groups. In P. B. Paulus (Ed.), The psychology of group influence (pp. 187-231). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
26.
Markus, H.R., & Kitayama, S. ( 1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.
27.
Matz, D.C., & Wood, W. ( 2005). Cognitive dissonance in groups: The consequences of disagreement . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 22-37.
28.
McGregor, I., Zanna, M.P., Holmes, J.G., & Spencer, S.J. ( 2001). Compensatory conviction in the face of personal uncertainty: Going to extremes and being oneself. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 472-488.
29.
McGuire, W.J., & McGuire, C.V. ( 1988). Content and process in the experience of self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 97-144). New York: Academic Press.
30.
McGuire, W.J., McGuire, C.V., Child, P., & Fujioka, T. ( 1978). Salience of ethnicity in the spontaneous self-concept as a function of one’s ethnic distinctiveness in the social environment . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 511-520.
31.
Moscovici, S. ( 1991). Silent majorities and loud minorities. Communication Yearbook, 14, 298-308.
32.
Nelson, L.J., & Miller, D.T. ( 1995). The distinctiveness effect in social categorization: You are what makes you unusual. Psychological Science, 6, 246-249.
33.
Nemeth, C.J. ( 1986). Differential contributions of majority and minority influence . Psychological Review, 93, 23-32.
34.
Noelle-Neumann, E. ( 1974). The spiral of silence: A theory of public opinion. Journal of Communication, 24, 43-51.
35.
Noelle-Neumann, E. ( 1993). The spiral of silence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
36.
Packer, D.J. ( 2008). On being both with us and against us: A normative conflict model of dissent in social groups. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 50-72.
37.
Pickett, C.L., Silver, M.D., & Brewer, M.B. ( 2002). The impact of assimilation and differentiation needs on perceived group importance and judgments of group size. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 546-558.
38.
Pool, G.J., Wood, W., & Leck, K. ( 1998). The self-esteem motive in social influence: Agreement with valued majorities and disagreement with derogated minorities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 967-975.
39.
Rosenberg, M. ( 1965). Society and the adolescent self-esteem. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
40.
Santee, R.T., & Maslach, C. ( 1982). To agree or not to agree: Personal dissent amid social pressure to conform. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 42, 690-700.
41.
Schachter, S. ( 1951). Deviation, rejection, and communication. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 46, 190-207.
42.
Shamir, J. ( 1997). Speaking up and silencing out in face of a changing climate of opinion. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 74, 602-614.
43.
Swann, W.B., Rentfrow, P.J., & Guinn, J. ( 2002). Self-verification: The search for coherence. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 367-383). New York: Guilford.
44.
Tajfel, H.C., & Turner, J.C. ( 1979). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7-24). Chicago : Nelson-Hall.
45.
Terry, D.J., & Hogg, M.A. ( 1996). Group norms and the attitude-behavior relationship: A role for group identification. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 776-793.
46.
Turner, J.C., Hogg, M.A., Oakes, P.J., Reicher, S.D., & Wetherell, M.S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
47.
Vignoles, V., Chryssochoou, X., & Breakwell, G.M. (2000). The distinctiveness principle: Identity, meaning, and bounds of cultural relativity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 337-354.
48.
Wood, W., Pool, G.J., Leck, K., & Purvis, D. ( 1996). Self-definition, defensive processing, and influence: The normative impact of majority and minority groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 1181-1193.
49.
Wyatt, R.O., Katz, E., Levinsohn, H., & Al-Haj, M. (1996). The dimensions of expression inhibition: Perceptions of obstacles to free speech in three cultures. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 8, 229-247.
