A communicator consensus technique for quantitative variation of communicator credibility was developed. 80 Ss were exposed to persuasive arguments advocated by “all the experts” (high-consensus) and “somewhat less than half the experts” (low-consensus). High consensus resulted in greater opinion formation than did low consensus (p < .0001). Implications of the communicator consensus variable for several research problems were briefly discussed, including parametric studies of communicator credibility and a communication approach to consensus problems in other areas of social influence research.
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