Reactance in Closed Groups: The Effect of Belief in Powerful Others

Abstract

This study was designed to test the assumption that the number of sources persuasion technique, because of its implicit social pres sure properties, can induce reactance in some subjects in small closed groups. It was predicted that these subjects could be identi fied with a locus of control instrument. Female subjects, in six- person mock juries, were given the Levenson (1974) Locus of Control Scale, and then read the transcript of a trial of a man ac cused of attempted manslaughter. Later, subjects received bogus feedback about the information considered important by others in a mock message-exchange "deliberation." They were led to believe that the information came from one other juror or from each other juror. Results showed that a strong belief in powerful others led to greater influence with five sources than one source; lack of such a belief led to the opposite pattern, consistent with a reactance re sponse. Corroborative evidence was found in the selective attention revealed in subjects' cognitive generation activity.

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